Sajjad wins Asian 6 Red Snooker Championship

Cueist claims title after thrashing Hong Kong’s Wai 7-0 in the final

KARACHI: Muhammad Sajjad claimed the ACBS Asian 6 Red Snooker Championship as he defeated Hong Kong’s Lee Chun Wai 7-0 in Bishkek on Sunday, while Muhammad Bilal took the bronze medal after having lost to Sajjad 6-3 in the semi-final.

The Pakistan contingent impressed in the tournament, with three of the four players sent — Sajjad, Bilal, Babar Masih and Asjad Iqbal —reaching the quarter-finals.

Sajjad first outplayed Bilal 35-33, 41-28, 61-0 with a break of 61, 53-17, 35-0, 0-49, 22-45, 13-58, 32-02 before defeating a hapless Wai in the final.

Wai came into the final on the back of a close 6-5 semi-final win over Thailand’s Issara Kachaiwong but the final was an altogether different story as Sajjad dominated from start to finish.

Sajjad had knocked out all his Pakistani counterparts, having defeated Masih and Iqbal in the quarter-finals and round-of-16 respectively, and he further highlighted why many consider him one of the finest amateur snooker players around with a dominating win in the final.

The national champion had said he would draw inspiration of the cricket team’s ICC Champions Trophy win, and he returned just as triumphant as the cricketers.

This is the second time a Pakistani has won the Asian 6 Red Snooker Championship individual title, with Muhammad Asif having done so in 2013 at the inaugural event.

The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association official Naveed Kapadia revealed Sajjad is understandably proud of his feat.

“This is the best result we could have hoped for and Sajjad is over the moon right now,” Kapadia told The Express Tribune. “He was just saying that the draws were tricky as all the four players had to go through each other, which meant an all-Pakistan was not possible. This is a great performance by us. This has been a good year for snooker; we got a bronze in the Asian junior championship, a bronze in the Asian Snooker Championship through Bilal and now these two medals.”

Pakistan will now compete in the team event, taking on Saudi Arabia in the opening game on Monday and Kapadia is confident for that one too.

“We have a great chance of winning the team event as well,” he said. “The morale of the players is very high right now and they are in great form, so we are hoping for the best.”