KARACHI: Unseeded Haris Tahir is just a step away from making history after he toppled top seed Abdul Javaid 5-3 to cruise into the final of the eighth national under-21 snooker championship at a local hotel on Tuesday.

Tahir will be up against junior international and unseeded Mohammad Saqib in the title clash as the latter overcome fighting another junior international Abdul Raheem 5-4 in the fully stretched second semi-final.

The best of 11 frames final between Tahir and Saqib will start at 11am on Wednesday. If the former succeeds he will become the first cueist of the country to win both the national junior titles — the under-18 and under-21.

Tahir had beaten Muzammil Khan 5-3 to win the inaugural national under-18 crown last month.

He has also earned distinction of scoring the first and the highest century break of 106 in the ongoing event against second seed Ghawish Khan.

Irrespective of the fact that who will win Wednesday’s final and who will lose, both the finalists have qualified to represent the country at the Asian and world under-21 events this year.

The Asian event is slated to take place at Sri Lanka while the world will be held at Belgium.

Meanwhile, all the four semi-finalists will also be eligible to play the national circuit this year.

Tahir shot to 3-1 lead but Javaid drew level only to lose the next two frames and match. The scores were 63-47, 30-67, 75-55, 76-41, 56-77, 22-69, 65-53, 62-54.

Saqib, who lost to Israel’s cueist in the last-32 round of world under 18 event at Saint Petersburg last year, was stretched to limits by Raheem before winning the duel 65-21, 8-88, 70-14, 33-70, 77-45, 47-74, 71-58, 37-61, 67-12.

Results:

Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Abdul Javaid (Punjab) 5-3 (63-47, 30-67, 75-55, 76-41, 56-77, 22-69, 65-53, 62-54); Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 5-4 (65-21, 8-88, 70-14, 33-70, 77-45, 47-74, 71-58, 37-61, 67-12).

Wednesday’s fixtures:

Final: Haris Tahir v Mohammad Saqib (best of 11 frames) 11am.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2016