KARACHI, Dec 24: The year 2001 spelt a good year for Pakistan, when former world No.3 Saleh Mohammad, who missed the National Championship in Quetta stormed back in the Asian Snooker Championship to reach the semifinals before he was outwitted by China’s teenage sensatation Jin Long.

This was the third time that the Asian Snooker Championship was held in Pakistan. The previous two in 1991 and 1998, where the former world champion was crowned the new Asian champ, coming from behind to overhaul Thailand’s top player in the final 11-10.

But this year although Pakistan could not produce another Asian champion, the country fared well amongst the 18 participating nations.

Off the eight players that comprised the Pakistan contingent, six, Mohammad Yousuf, Saleh Mohammad, Naveen Perwani, Khurram Agha, Mohammad Shafiq and Abu Salem, the babe of the team reached the last 16.

Surprisingly Farhan Mirza and young Atiq Latif Baksh, who have performed so well aboard representing Pakistan in international tournaments, bowed out.

Naveen Perwani and Saleh went on to reach the quarterfinals, before Naveen made his exit after going down to Jin Long in a match that had the snooker fans rooted to their seats.

Saleh Mohammad beat the second seed Noppadon Sangil from Thailand to book his entry into the semifinals and just when the bookmakers installed him as the firm favourite, he was beaten by the young Chinese star Jin Long.

On that day Saleh was certainly not at his best and committed too many unforced errors which helped his opponent get on top.

In the local circuit, the former world amateur and Asian snooker champion Mohammad Yousuf reached another pinnacle, when he bagged the National crown for the 11th time in his illustrious career, beating Naveen Perwani at the National Championship played earlier this year in Quetta. The venue was then shifted to Karachi at the Karachi Gymkhana for the Red & White Classic and three former ranking players Saleh Mohammad, Amit Parwani and Azdiar Mobed secured wild card entries amongst the top participating cueists from the country.

Two new finalists emerged in this tournament, when bespectacled Farhan Mirza from Lahore beat Karachi’s Khurram Hussain Agha in an absorbing final.

When the third championship began for the Red & White Cup at the KPT Sports Complex, Peshawar’s Saleh Mohammad, perhaps the most attacking cueist in the country, got the better of Khurram Hussain Agha in the final.

The last local ranking tournament in country saw the top 16 cueists in the country vying for the spoils of the prestigious Latif Masters which was played at the Karachi Club. Saleh Mohammad came out on top once again, brushing aside Lahore’s Imran Shehzad in an exciting final.

The Billiards and Pool competitions then got underway at the Indus Snooker Parlour, where veteran Mohammad Hussain from Peshawar beat the Karachi youngster Khurram Agha in the billiard final.

Khurram however, earned a measure of satisfaction when he beat Peshawar’s Arifullah in a very close Pool final.

Twenty-four-year old Khurram was on song of creating a new Pakistan record by being the Pakistan No.1 in all the three cue sports, snooker, billiards and Pool.

Rated as Pakistan’s No.1 player in the snooker rankings, Khurram won the Pool competition. However his dreams were cruelly shattered when Mohammad Hussain taught him a billiards lesson in the final.

The PBSA President Ali Asghar Valika who has been elected as the founder President of the SAARC Billiards and Snooker, revealed that Pakistan has a very busy schedule in the year 2002, which begins from Jan 27, where the Nationals will be held in Karachi at the KPT Sports Complex.

He mentioned that most important aspect is to select the three teams in snooker, billiards and Pool to represent the country in the Asian Games to be held in Busan, South Korea. Eight players and two officials have been allowed by the Pakistan Olympic Association.

Valika, who also held the post unopposed as the President of the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) for three terms, said that it was very satisfying to see budding youngsters like Khurram Agha and Imran Shehzad make it to the top, in a sport once dominated by just two players.

He hoped the players will be going all out to bring back more laurels to the country in the SAARC tournament which is to be held at the end of March in Dhaka and then proceed for the World Snooker Championship to be held in May at Jianzhong, China, followed by the Six Nation Emirates tournament to be held in Dubai and the Asian Championship in Cairo in Egypt.

It is very sad indeed that Pakistan after gaining a gold medal in snooker at the 13th Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1998, when Shoukat Ali beat Malaysia’s professional Sam Chong in the final, and securing two bronze medals also in the doubles through Shoukat Ali and Farhan Mirza and the team championship through Shoukat Ali, Farhan Mirza and Saleh Mohammad, the Pakistan Billiard and Snooker Association has still not received official affiliation from the Pakistan Olympic Association.

It would be rather unjust if the sponsors of these three cue games who helped take Pakistan to the top of Asian snooker is not mentioned.

Of the 54 snooker playing countries in the world, Pakistan is ranked in the sixth spot and is now easily at par in the Asian circuit with the former giants Thailand.—By Ian Fyfe