KARACHI: Former Pakistan No two Sultan Mohammad set a title clash with Islamabad’s Shan Namat after they won their respective semi-finals in contrasting styles in the NBP 47th National Snooker Championship here at the bank’s sports complex on Monday.

Qualifier and Sindh Cup champion Sultan fought tooth and nail to overcome fifth seed and former national champion Shahid Aftab 6-5 in agonising match to make it to the final for the second time in his career.

He came from the jaws of defeat to turn the tables on his opponent by winning the seven-hour marathon.

After a brisk start by winning the opening frame 73-18, Sultan lost four frames in a row 11-64, 53-61, 51-53 and 20-64 to trail 1-4 in the best-of-11 frames encounter. He then reduced the deficit to 3-4 by claiming the sixth and seventh frames 62-12 and 63-55. He again lost the eighth frame 35-75 before taking a firm control and pocketing the remaining three frames 64-53, 74-21 and 64-18 to sail into the final.

The second semi-final between Shan Namat and Awaisullah Munir fell short of expectations as the former humbled the latter 6-1 in convincing fashion.

After losing the opening frame 43-53, Shan never looked back and wrapped up the match by winning the next six in a row with the frame scores being 43-53, 61-35, 92-23, 65-23, 81-0, 108-16, 70-6.

It may be mentioned that by making it to the final, the two cueists ended Punjab’s domination in the country’s premier snooker championship since 2008.

The best-of-13 frames final between Sultan and Shan will be played on Tuesday at 10am.

Published in Dawn, january 3th, 2023