Snooker: Young cueists eye big breaks

Snooker team leaves for World U21 Championship in China.

KARACHI: Mohammad Majid and Hunain Amir are aiming for the semi-finals of the World U21 Snooker Championship that starts in China tomorrow.

Both players, trained by former world amateur champion Mohammad Yousuf,  claim to have improved considerably following the training sessions and are looking forward to the event.

“My game has improved immensely after the training,” Majid told The Express Tribune. “Yousuf’s coaching has helped both of us and I’m confident of scoring bigger breaks.

“I’d rarely make a break of 70 but now I can go past 100 and this will help me topple the best players at the event who have the ability to post huge breaks as well.”

‘Tips on how to handle pressure’

The 18-year-old added that Yousuf’s tips, which included suggestions on how to handle pressure in crunch situations, will help him in the high profile tournament. Amir, 16, was also confident of a good show in the duo’s first major assignment.

“His tips are going to come in very handy and I’m confident of making it to the semi-finals of the event,” said Amir.

Majid can go far, says coach Yousuf

Yousuf, meanwhile, said that he has tried to impart every relevant skill in the limited time he had with the pair.

“Majid has evolved considerably and despite Amir being the national junior champion, I have high hopes from the 18-year-old,” said Yousuf.

“I can’t predict the results but Majid seems like he can go far. However, I would be equally happy if any of the two can do what I did several years back because it will be a victory for Pakistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2012.