Saleh, Al Kojah to vie for Asian snooker supremacy

Duo to contest championship final in Karachi today.

KARACHI: Former Pakistan cueist Saleh Mohammad, who moved to Afghanistan and now represents his adopted country, will lock horns with Syria’s Omar al Kojah in the Jubilee Insurance 29th Asian Snooker Championship 13-frame final today.

Saleh proved to be too good for Chinese youngster Zhao Xin Tong, sailing through to register a 6-3 win in the best-of-11 semi-final.

Although Zhao started on a brighter note by winning the first frame, Saleh’s experience proved to be the difference as he won with scores of 25-108 (70), 88-32, 57-40, 75-19, 91-01, 7-79, 46-57, 66-52 and 97-0.

Meanwhile, Al Kojah survived a scare against Iran’s Aamir Sarkosh to win 6-5.

Al Kojah won the opening two frames before Sarkosh pulled one back and then won another to draw level at 2-2. A 102-break saw Sarkosh go 3-2 up but the Syrian was not left behind. He racked up a break of 59 but the sea-saw contest continued with Sarkosh hitting a 88 to regain the lead. However, the following four frames saw Al Kojah clinching three of them as he won the thrilling encounter with frame scores of 55-42, 69-65, 0-81, 29-59, 18-102(102), 69(59)-0, 0-88(88), 80-00, 32-63, 72-22 and 53-45.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2013.