KARACHI, July 26 Country's top cueist Mohammad Sajjad of Punjab maintained his ascendancy when he powered to 8-3 victory over province-mate Saqib Butt in the National Ranking Snooker Cup final to land third title of his career at Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

Sajjad took some five-and-a-half hours to register a 79-31, 67-11, 97-49, 72-6, 70-29, 14-58, 4-56, 62-54, 25-61, 79-6, 63-49 victory over his opponent who played first final of a ranking event.

Earlier, Saqib made it to the final when he came from the jaws of defeat to inflict 5-4 defeat on fifth seed Khurram Agha of Sindh in the marathon second pre-final late on Saturday night.

Unseeded Saqib put up a resolute fight recovering from 3-4 down to seize 81-30, 32-47, 62-23, 55-44, 30-68, 6-76, 35-66, 58-41, 104-15 victory over seasoned opponent. Saqib hammered a break of 70 in the last frame.

“I'm happy that I have staged a comeback after faltering in a league match and maintained my top ranking,” a jubilant Sajjad told Dawn soon after the victory.

The 25-year-old Sajjad who hails from Sargodha said “Though he had a good start but became shaky due to pressure of maintaining the top slot in national ranking.”

To a question he said Sohail Shehzad and Sultan Mohammad, both from Sindh, have the potential to rise to the occasion in the days to come.

Sajjad, winner of last year's country's premier snooker championship and the NBP Cup earlier this year, was in aggressive mood as he raced to earn 5-0 lead in the final taking first five frames in a row 79-31, 67-11, 97-49, 72-6, 70-29 aided by two breaks of 40 and 41 in first and fifth frames.

Lack of concentration forced him to concede sixth and seventh frames 14-56, 4-56 before bouncing back to win the next 62-54. Needing two frames he again lost the ninth 25-61 only to seal the fate taking the next two frames 79-6, 63-49.

Surprisingly, the event has gone into the annals without a century break. The preceding NBP Cup saw only two century breaks — one by Khurram Agha (122) and the other by Sajjad (101).

Sajjad received a purse of Rs40,000 and a glittering winners trophy while Saqib took home Rs30,000 and runner up trophy from the chief guest Altaf Tai, representative of the sponsors. The eventual champion was also awarded Rs5,000 for highest break (96).

The president of Karachi Gymkhana Younus Rizwani was gracious in awarding Rs15,000 to winner and Rs10,000 to runner up.

Meanwhile, Sajjad has been employed by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on a one-year contract on monthly emoluments of Rs12,000.