Snooker: Shehzad storms into tournament final

Former champion to face Akbar in national championship today.

KARACHI: Former national champion Imran Shehzad is hoping to complete a successful comeback as he plays the final of the Jubilee Insurance 38th National Snooker Championship 2013 at the Karachi Gymkhana today.

Shehzad, who was out of the national ranking circuit for seven months, defeated Sindh’s Abdul Sattar, 6-2 to set up a final clash against junior player Hamza Akbar. Akbar beat former Asian number two cueist Muhammad Sajjad 6-3.

“Many people told me to quit since I was out for almost seven months,” Shehzad told The Express Tribune. “I’ve won the other three ranking tournaments, but I’ve never won the national championship. Hamza has been playing well so I’ll be under a lot of pressure. I need to win this championship at least once in my career.”

Shehzad won his semi-final match with scores of 54-33, 45-63, 67-55, 57-17, 70-23, 81-0, 38-68 and 74-18.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2013.