KARACHI: Top seed Abdul Raheem and seventh seed Mohammad Faheem set an all-Punjab final after registering convincing victories over their opponents in the two semi-finals of the seventh national junior under-21 snooker championship at Movenpick Arcade on Friday.

Punjab junior champion Raheem notched up two half century breaks while routing his Islamabad counterpart and fourth seed Mohammad Nouman Iqbal 5-3 to justify his credentials. His breaks of 61 and 66 came in the first and seventh frames as he carved out 77-9, 33-59, 57-20, 59-66, 21-73, 60-28, 72-2, 73-26 victory over his opponent.

Earlier, Raheem overcame early jitters by getting the better of Islamabad’s Mohammad Hassan Anwar 4-2 in the quarter-finals the scores being 15-55, 35-48, 56-36, 54-42, 71-21, 90-10.

On the other hand, Faheem also made a comeback from two-all to post 5-2 victory over his contemporary Amir Tariq in the other semi-final. The former won the duel 22-60, 64-14, 50-24, 36-39, 65-55, 75-44, 61-43. Both have donned Pakistan colour in separate international junior events last year.

In quarters, Faheem ended the winning run of Mohammad Afzaal 4-1 (24-60, 59-39, 61-21, 74-62, 59-55).

The best of 11 frames final between Raheem and Faheem will be played on Saturday at 12noon.

Results:

Semi-finals:

Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) 5-3 (77-9, 33-59, 57-20, 59-66, 21-73, 60-28, 72-2, 73-26); Mohammad Fah- eem (Punjab) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 5-2 (22-60, 64-14, 50-24, 36-39, 65-55, 75-44, 61-43).

Quarter-finals:

Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Hassan Anwar (Islamabad) 4-2 (15-55, 35-48, 56-36, 54-42, 71-21, 90-10); Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Adil (Balochistan) 4-1 (53-68, 83-44, 52-34, 82-25, 70-1); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Afzaal (Punjab) 4-1 (24-60, 59-39, 61-21, 74-62, 59-55); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) 4-1 (62-12, 60-24, 57-10, 45-63, 74-52).

Saturday’s fixtures:

At 12noon: Abdul Raheem (Punjab) v Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) (best of 11 frames final).

Published in Dawn January 10th , 2014

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