KARACHI: Former national champions — second seed Mohammad Asif and third seed Mohammad Bilal — both from Punjab, notched up magnificent victories over their respective opponents to set-up final in the Jubilee Insurance 43rd National Snooker Championship at the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Former world snooker champion Asif prevailed over former Asian junior No 2 and wildcard Mohammad Majid Ali 6-3 in the best of 11 frames second semi-final after Bilal had sent eighth seed Babar Masih packing 6-2 in the first encounter.

Curtain falls on the country’s premier snooker event on Wednesday with best of 15 frames final between Asif and Bilal on card at 10am.

Asif, 36, overcome hiccups while registering 111-16, 85-22, 78-23, 58-15, 35-47, 24-66, 33-77, 55-19, 69-5 victory over wildcard Majid to make third final of national snooker championship besides many others.

“I had complete grip on the match and surged to 4-0 lead when my opponent took advantage and narrowed the lead to 3-4 as I relaxed,” Asif, who had won the national title twice in 2009 and 2012 told Dawn soon after the triumph.

This will be Asif’s back-to-back final of domestic circuit as he had won the third and last ranking event in Oct last year.

Seasoned Asif hammered two elegant breaks of 61 and 78 in the second and third frames while Majid replied with 63 in the seventh frame.

The two-time former champion hoped that the Wednesday final against Bilal will be exciting.

Majid said he was jittery in the beginning and came back into the game with vigour to reduce the deficit 3-4.

“However, I took pressure and lost the next two frames and the match,” he said and added that had he drew level the result would have been different.

Meanwhile, Bilal displayed awesome form while registering 58-43, 54-25, 68-21, 36-62, 22-90, 81-46, 65-57, 75-21 victory over eight seed Babar.

This is the second time that Bilal had made it to the final of national championship after 2016 and fourth of his career.

He had lost to Asif twice in the ranking finals, the Langnese ranking in 2013 and the NBP Cup in 2016.

“I have learnt from my mistakes while playing against Asif (bhai) and will try to make amends in Wednesday’s final,” the 31-year-old Bilal, a native of Mandi Bahauddin told Dawn.

Bilal conjured up two solid breaks of 51 and 62 in the second and third frames.

Babar, though managed to take two frames but succumbed to pressure that was quite visible on his face.

Results:

Semi-finals:

Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Babar Masih (Punjab) 6-2 (58-43, 54-25, 68-21, 36-62, 22-90, 81-46, 65-57, 75-21); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 6-3 (111-16, 85-22, 78-23, 58-15, 35-47, 24-66, 33-77, 55-19, 69-5).

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Bilal v Mohammad Asif (final) best of 15 frames.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018