KARACHI, April 7: Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham won the 14th Asian under-21 snooker championship by getting the better of Pakistan’s Mohammad Majid Ali in the fully stretched final 6-5 in the Indian city of Indore on Sunday.

According to results available here, Majid, who scaled new heights by becoming first-ever Pakistani to reach the Asian juniors final, lost the decisive frame on pink ball after leading 2-0, 3-2, 4-3, and level at 5-5.

The Thai was home 62-63, 12-92, 91-1, 76-63, 24-73, 64-48, 37-85, 74-8, 112-15, 24-72, 63-46 in the marathon final.

Earlier, Majid brushed aside last year’s runner-up Chinese Zhu Yinghjui 5-1 to reach the final and enter his name in the annals of the game. Majid, making his second appearance in the Asian under-21 meet, conceded fourth frame while registering an emphatic 69-39, 60-48, 92-34, 0-101, 68-48, 76-36 victory over the Chinese opponent.

This was Majid’s second victory over the Chinese cueists in a day the first being against Lu Ning in the quarter-final.

Pakistan snooker team is due to arrive from Mumbai by PK 275 on Monday. National champion Hamza Akbar was the other cueist who made his exit in the pre quarter-final. Former world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Yousuf accompanied the team as manager-cum-coach.

Results: Final: Noppon SaengKham (Thailand) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Pakistan) 6-5 (62-63, 12-92, 91-1, 76-63, 24-73, 64-48, 37-85, 74-8, 112-15, 24-72, 63-46).

Semi-final: Mohammad Majid Ali (Pakistan) bt Zhu Yinghui (China) 5-1 (69-39, 60-48, 92-34, 0-101, 68-48, 76-36).

Opinion

Editorial

Close the gap
Updated 16 Jun, 2025

Close the gap

Our imbalanced scorecard in the main shows that power development and prosperity reflect the shallowness of political claims.
Fiscal malfeasance
16 Jun, 2025

Fiscal malfeasance

IT is galling that, even in these times of economic distress, when hardship has pushed millions of ordinary...
Rochdale conviction
16 Jun, 2025

Rochdale conviction

THE recent conviction of seven men in the Rochdale grooming gang case is a hard-won moment of justice. The men, ...
Deepening conflict
Updated 15 Jun, 2025

Deepening conflict

Some media reports say that the US had shipped hundreds of missiles to Israel before the attack on Iran.
Some strides
15 Jun, 2025

Some strides

THE PTI government in KP is not known for sound public service delivery in a province whose economy has been ...
Air India tragedy
15 Jun, 2025

Air India tragedy

THE black box of the ill-fated Air India flight AI171 has been recovered, and that should reveal in the coming days...