Imran, Sajjad crash out of snooker event

Mehmood, Asif get better of experienced duo in semi-finals>

KARACHI:

Underdogs Sharjeel Mehmood and Muhammad Asif reached the final of the Del Monte Ranking Snooker Tournament, causing huge upsets in their semi-final clashes as they got the better of their more illustrious opponents.

Mehmood defeated former Asian number two Muhammad Sajjad 6-3, while Asif outplayed Pakistan number one Imran Shehzad 6-5 after a close match at the Southend Club.

Sajjad was off to a good start in his semi-final encounter, taking the opening frame 95-01, but Mehmood came back strongly to secure the second one with a break of 77, only to lose the next frame 65-33. Mehmood then hit back hard winning the next two frames 47-46 and 87-22.

Sajjad seemed to have found his focus, taking the following frame 65-1, but the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cuiest made no mistakes thereafter, sealing an ultimately comfortable win in the last three frames, winning them 71-36, 55-35, 108-0.

“I’ve always had high hopes from Mehmood and he’s proven me right,” the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association President Alamgir Sheikh told The Express Tribune. “I believe that in the past two years he’s improved the most amongst all cueists.”

Asif upsets Shehzad

Meanwhile, defending champion Shehzad lost the opening frame of his semi-final tie to Asif 63-22. He then hit back, winning the following four frames 51-15, 77-47, 65-1, 72-06.

Asif countered by taking the next three frames 81-12, 74-0, 53-49 before losing the eighth 63-22. He levelled the score in the next frame and then took the decider with a break of 87.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2011.