Snooker: Imran prevails in 7-frame thriller

Aftab’s fightback in vain in national ranking snooker event.

KARACHI: Defending champion Imran Shahzad overcame a spirited Shahid Aftab 4-3 to record his second successive win in the 4th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship being held at the DHA Creek Club in Karachi.

Shahzad was put under pressure straight away as Aftab dominated proceedings at the start, winning the first frame comfortably 79-41 before Shahzad hit a break of 66 to win the second frame 113-15.

Shahzad then won the following two frames before the see-saw battle saw Aftab hit back to level the encounter at 3-3, taking the match into a deciding frame.

With the result depending on the outcome of the final frame, it was Shahzad who used all his experience to win 58-06 and walk away with maximum points on the fourth day of the event.

Toba stunned

Meanwhile, unheralded Islamabad cueist Yasir Nadeem stunned his more experienced opponent Asif Toba 4-2, who had recorded an upset win over Mohammad Asif on the third day, in another fully-stretched match of the day.

Yasir availed all the opportunities to win with frame scores of 81-27, 15-88, 58-38, 56-98, 33-64, 62-44.

In other matches, Khurram Agha registered yet another victory in the tournament, blanking out Umair Alam 4-0 with frame scores 75-73, 76-13, 64-01 and 79-32.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Javed and Shehram Changezi also recorded impressive victories in the event. Javed got the better of Abu Saim 4-1, while Changezi outclassed Ali Raza 4-2 to gain valuable points.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2012.