KARACHI, April 13: Reigning national champion, Khurram Agha, took a big leap of six steps to reclaim No 1 slot in the national snooker ranking which came into effect after the conclusion of 31st National snooker championship on March 30.

Agha, 29, a former No 1, was ranked seventh when he entered the country’s premier snooker championship last month.

He topped his group by remaining unbeaten to propel into the knock out pre quarterfinals. He also carved out a handsome break of 99 against Farhan Noor of Punjab in the opener.

In the quest of recapturing the crown, he stunned top seed Mohammad Yousuf 5-3 in pre quarterfinal. He then handed a crushing 5-1 defeat to third seed Naveen Perwani to set a date with second seed Saleh Mohammad in the pre-final.

There was no stopping for Khurram as he was home 6-1 against Saleh in the semis as the latter failed to exert any pressure.

His victim in the final was sixth seed Imran Shehzad who went down 3-6.

Imran, a former Pakistan No 4 last year, also improved his ranking when he jumped to second slot.

Fourth ranked Abu Saim, losing semifinalist of the national’s, has also shown little improvement by occupying third position.

He is followed by Saleh and Naveen who were relegated to fourth and fifth positions.

The emergence of young and talented new faces is a good omen for the sport which has shown downward trend in international events in the recent past.