KARACHI: Islamabad’s Shahram Changezi reached his maiden final of the National Snooker Championship when he fought gallantly to whip former world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Asif in the fully stretched battle 6-5 to set a date with former national champion Hamza Akbar who won 6-3 over Mohammad Sajjad at Hotel Movenpick on Sunday.

Placed 12th in the national ranking, the 31-year-old Shahram, who has two ranking titles under his belt in 2007 and 2008, averted the pressure to win on the decisive frame. He won the battle 93-1, 80-10, 12-104, 79-38, 50-42, 68-33, 32-77, 10-77, 66-68, 46-92, 54-12.

“I’d decided to give tough time to my opponent and the things went smoothly until the sixth frame. However, Asif displayed his qualities and from 1-5 down made it 5-all before losing on the final frame,” an elated Shahram told Dawn.

Shahram is set to meet Hamza Akbar in Monday’s title clash after the latter made it to third straight final of the country’s premier snooker championship. Hamza demonstrated awesome performance while routing silver medallist of the world amateur snooker championship at Bangalore in Nov 36-93, 77-43, 74-16, 14-79, 59-15, 62-24, 2-64, 59-48, 83-20.

Results:

Semi-finals:

Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 6-5 (93-1, 80-10, 12-104, 79-38, 50-42, 68-33, 32-77, 10-77, 66-68, 46-92, 54-12); Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 6-3 (36-93, 77-43, 74-16, 14-79, 59-15, 62-24, 2-64, 59-48, 83-20).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am (final): Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) v Hamza Akbar (Punjab) best of 15 frames

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2015

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