Snooker: Asif downs Mehmood in one-sided final

Clinches snooker tournament, now ranked second in the country.

KARACHI: Mohammad Asif prevailed 7-2 over Sharjeel Mehmood in a one-sided final at the Southend Club to clinch the Rs130,000 Del Monte Ranking Snooker Tournament yesterday.

The cueist’s good show in the tournament, which saw him win six out of seven group matches and beat Pakistan number one Imran Shahzad 6-5 in the semi-final, has also catapulted him into second place in the national rankings.

The seventh-seed, who won his first tournament in two years, gave ample proof that his win over Shahzad the previous day was no fluke as he completely dominated Mehmood in the final. Mehmood, who beat former national champion Mohammad Sajjad on Saturday, looked down and out as Asif took the opening five frames 99-24, 83-35, 65-50, 73-29, 97-22.

Mehmood bounced back after an interval as the two cueists battled it out to make the score 6-2. However, that was all that Mehmood had to offer as Asif hit a break of 71 to win the ninth frame 107-01 and win the domestic season’s last ranking tournament of the year.

“It feels good to win this tournament,” Asif told
The Express Tribune. “I did my best in the ranking tournament last month but it wasn’t enough.

“But here, I didn’t lose focus. I almost lost to Shehzad [in the semi-final] but staged a comeback and that gave me a lot of confidence. I lost against Mehmood in the pre-quarters of the last tournament month and I was itching to beat him,” added Asif, who pocketed Rs60,000 as prize money.

‘I deserve to play at the World Championship’

Meanwhile, Asif said that he deserved to represent Pakistan at the World Snooker Championship in Bangalore and his win proves his point. Shahzad and Asif Toba, who crashed out in the group stage of the event, were chosen by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) in the India-bound team.

But Asif feels his win should convince the PBSA of including him instead. “I regret the fact that my effort wasn’t enough. I was unlucky in the last tournament. I hit the highest break in that event but failed to make it to the final. I think Toba was just lucky,” said Asif.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2011.