KARACHI: Punjab’s Mohammad Asif recaptured the national snooker title when he humbled Sindh’s Sultan Mohammad 8-2 in the one-sided final that fell short of expectations at Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.
Second seed Asif, who won his maiden national crown in 2009, ruthlessly beat his opponent who reached first ranking final of his career. The triumph not only gave him back-to-back titles but also the No 1 slot in the national ranking. It may be mentioned that he had won the Del Monte Cup three months back.
Asif build up break after break in the best of 15 frames final of Jubilee Insurance 37th national snooker championship that lasted for some four hours in two sessions. Final scores were: 69-21, 79-57, 83-5, 82-32, 40-63, 72-47, 31-71, 68-42, 56-35, 83-0.
In the run up to the final, Asif, who topped group “B”, subdued Shah Khan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 5-2 in pre quarters which includes a century break (108), Sohail Shehzad of Sindh 5-3 in quarters and Mohammad Sajjad of Punjab 6-3 in the semis.
“I’ll try to perform better in the Asians as I’ve got a chance to represent the country again after a layoff,” Asif, who was elated with the victory, told Dawn.
The 29-year-old cueist had earlier represented the country in the Asian at China and world championship at Hyderabad in India in 2009.
At the outset, he raced to 4-0 lead — 69-21, 79-57, 83-5, 82-32 — piling up three successive breaks of 43, 51 and 51 in the first three frames before conceding the fifth 40-63. He further consolidated his lead by taking the sixth 72-47 which includes a break of 42 only to lose the next 31-71. That was the last hurrah for Sultan as Asif sealed the fate taking the following three frames 68-42, 56-35, 83-0.
Despite the defeat, Sultan earned some consolation as both the finalists earned the right to represent the country in the 28th Asian snooker championship being held at Doha from April 20 to 28.
Asif earned a purse of Rs70,000 and a glittering trophy while Sultan received cash award of Rs40,000 and runner-up trophy.
Two-time former national champion, Mohammad Sajjad, got highest break (127) award of Rs5,000.
Sponsors Mr. Tahir Ahmed and Mr. Javed Ahmed, provincial secretary for sports, Shoaib Siddiqui, and president of the PBSA, Alamgir Sheikh, were prominent among others who graced the prize distribution ceremony.