KARACHI, Feb 8: Sindh’s Sultan Mohammad reached first ranking final of his career after pulling off a 6-4 victory over former national champion Naveen Perwani in the semi-final of 37th National snooker championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday. Sultan meets ex-national champion Mohammad Asif in the Thursday’s final after the latter whipped two-time former national champion Mohammad Sajjad 6-3 in the other pre-final.
The best of 15 frames final between Sultan and Asif starts at 10am.
Sultan, ranked 10th in the latest rankings, made amends of his last year’s defeat at the hands of eventual champion Mohammad Shahid in the semi-final of country’s premier championship, by halting winning run of Naveen in the first semi-final.
After neck-and-neck battle until the fourth frame, Sultan surged 4-2 only to be tied 4-4 again before registering 6-4 win. Sultan won the clash 67-51, 17-59, 57-54, 17-63, 88-24, 94-0, 22-54, 9-70, 57-36, 66-46.
Second seed Asif, who crowned the Del Monte Cup routing Sharjeel Mehmood 7-2 in the final in Nov, recovered from 1-2 down to beat former Asian No 2 Sajjad to justify his credentials.
The 28-year-old Asif won the battle 76-1, 1-87 (86), 26-79, 72-36, 108-25, 54-5, 36-89, 77-16, 61-91 against his opponent who piled up highest century break (127) of the event in the third frame against Sharjeel in the quarter-final the other day.
Results: Semi-finals: Sultan Mohammad bt Naveen Perwani 6-4 (67-51, 17-59, 57-54, 17-63, 88-24, 94-0, 22-54, 9-70, 57-36, 66-46); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 6-3 (76-1, 1-87 (86), 26-79, 72-36, 108-25, 54-5, 36-89, 77-16, 61-91).
Tuesday’s results: Quarter-finals: Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Vishan Gir (Sindh) 5-2 (73-14, 86-28, 1-108, 72-47, 36-61, 75-39, 69-41); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (KP) 5-0 (57-45, 58-13, 134-1, 58-50, 94-37); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 5-2 (74-67, 68-35, 7-53, 70-48, 2-51, 55-44, 63-42); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 5-3 (24-65, 43-42, 93-1, 25-65, 63-20, 60-25, 18-76, 69-57).
