KARACHI: Former world champion and top seed Mohammad Asif came from behind to whip former Asian junior number two Mohammad Majid Ali 8-4 in the gruelling final to lift the Langnese ranking snooker cup at hotel Movenpick on Thursday.

Trailing 1-3 down in the best of 15-frames final, rejuvenated Asif turned the tide in his favour by romping home 69-75, 78-26, 44-57, 31-90, 74-67, 68-20, 66-32, 30-58, 64-62, 87-0, 69-42, 77-14 in the eight-hour duel.

This is the fourth time Asif had won the Langnese Cup out of four editions held so far. Asif, who went down 5-6 to Shahram Changezi in the 40th national championship earlier this year, made a remarkable comeback capturing back-to-back ranking titles (NBP and the Langnese cups) to culminate the domestic season on happy note.

“I’m in high spirit and will Inshallah go all out to repeat Soofia, Bulgaria, feat in the Egyptian city of Hurgnada,” a jubilant Asif, who along with three other cueists leaves for Cairo on way to Hurghada on Monday told Dawn soon after the final.

Applauding young Majid’s performance in the event the country top cueist said: “It’s a learning process and Majid has long innings to play,” he added.

Majid, who like Asif also hails from Faisalabad, said he started well and after leading 3-1 and tied at four-all, luck deserted him.

In the run up to the final, Asif and Majid emerged group A and group D champions despite losing one match apiece. The former had lost to his name sake Asif (Toba) 3-4 while the latter lost to Changezi 2-4.

Asif overcome Changezi 5-2 in the quarter-final and brushed aside Mohammad Bilal 6-3 in the semis.

Majid, who coasted to 6-4 victory over Babar Masih in the pre-final the other day, defied pressure and surged to 3-1 lead by taking first, third and fourth frames besides conceding second.

Jittery in the beginning, Asif put his act together and won next three frames to earn 4-3 lead only to find his opponent drawing level at four-all. Finally, Asif had a grip on the match and sealed the fate by grabbing the next four frames in a row.

A beaming Asif received a purse of Rs60,000 and winners trophy from Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui an sponsor Saqib Riaz at the presentation ceremony that followed the final. Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president Alamgir Shaikh and managing committee members of the PBSF were also present on the occasion.

Majid fetched Rs35,000 and runner-up trophy from the chief guest. Mohammad Sajjad was awarded Rs5,000 for highest break feat of 134.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2015

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