Teenage snooker trio leave for India in high spirits

Akhtar, Tahir, Rafiq have nothing but title triumph on minds

KARACHI: Teenage trio Naseem Akhtar, Haris Tahir and Muhammad Rafiq are all set to compete in the ACBS Asian U21 Championship, which commences from on April 8 in Chandigarh, India, and 16-year-old Akhtar, who took the domestic circuit by storm this year by winning back-to-back titles, feels that this can be his moment of glory on the international stage.

The Sahiwal-based player, who has been playing snooker since he was 11, said that winning national titles has boosted his confidence and turned his doubters into believers, including his parents.

“Winning the national titles has given me a lot of confidence and now people who doubted me, which included my parents as well, now believe that I have a real shot at winning something big,” Naseem, who is training with the squad at a camp in Lahore, told The Express Tribune. “My parents used to scold me for wasting my time at this game but now they are backing me to pursue a career in the sport. I know the task of winning on the international stage won’t be easy, but I’m going to give my best and see what happens.”

Naseem credited coach, Iran’s Sohail Vahedi, who was in Pakistan to train young players, for helping him improve his game.

“Snooker is an extremely tough sport; it requires a lot of mental prowess. One has to be really tough to get through even a single match and Vahedi really helped my settle my nerves and really concentrate,” said Naseem.

Similarly, Tahir, who is looking to improve on his last year’s quarter-final finish, believes participating in the tournament in India will give him, and the whole squad, valuable experience.

“I reached the quarter-finals last year. When I look back, I see the mistakes I made and that will change in this championship. I’ve been training constantly at home too,” said Tahir.

Meanwhile, the youngest of the three cueists, Rafiq said that he wants to learn more about the game and on his debut; his aim will be to finish among the top players.

“I started playing snooker four years ago in Peshawar, it is a popular sport but I really worked hard on it,” explained the 15-year-old. “I feel I learned a lot from Vahedi and I got the exposure at the national championships too. But it is up to me now how I use this training at the championship. All three of us - we help each other in training too - I want all three of us to do well in the event.”

Meanwhile, team manager Naveed Kapadia believes the team has the potential to cause upsets at the championship, while there are more expectations from Akhtar and Tahir.

“We really don’t know what to expect from other countries as each team will have new players, but it is going to be a really competitive tournament. Last time we reached the quarter-finals; this time our boys should win,” said Kapadia.

The team will leave for India on April 6 through the Wagah border.