KARACHI, Dec 1: Fifth seed Naveen Perwani sprang a surprise when he came back from 1-4 down to inflict 5-4 defeat on top seed Saleh Mohammad in the final and retain the Karachi Club Open snooker challenge title at the KC on Saturday.

Final scores: 23-67, 36-77, 62-41, 49-66, 4-71, 65-33, 75-21, 75-41, 72-61.

Saleh was about to wrap up the final after he secured 33 points lead in the sixth frame and 4-1 up in the match, when Naveen showed the grit and changed the complexion of title clash taking last four frames.

Saleh, who surged to top slot in the NR after winning two domestic titles this year, got off to a brisk start pocketing the opening two frames 67-23, 77-36.

Defending champion Naveen made a little recovery and reduced the deficit (1-2) taking the third frame 62-41 only to concede the next two 49-66, 4-71 to trail 1-4.

Saleh was having an upper hand in the sixth frame with about five, six red balls on the table. Taking advantage of his opponents’ lapse, Naveen displayed great fighting qualities claiming the frame 65-33 to make it 2-4.

The win raised his level of confidence and he never looked back capturing the remaining three frames 75-21, 75-41 and 72-61.

Naveen received a winning purse of Rs20,000 along with a trophy while Saleh took home Rs12,000 and runner-up trophy. The latter also got highest break (109) award of Rs2,000.

Results:

Naveen Perwani bt Saleh Mohammad 5-4 (23-67, 36-77, 62-41, 49-66, 4-71, 65-33, 75-21, 75-41, 72-61).