Imran, Sohail to meet in snooker final

Fourth-seed Imran Shahzad and sixth-seed Sohail Shahzad reache the final of the Snooker Championship.

KARACHI: Fourth-seed Imran Shahzad and sixth-seed Sohail Shahzad reached the final of the Snooker Championship and booked their place in the 2010 World Snooker Championship.

Imran overcame Shahram Changezi 6-5 and Sohail outplayed Mohammad Asif Toba 6-4 in their respective semi-finals to set up the tournament finale that will take place today.

Changezi won the first frame 55-50 but lost the second to an experienced Imran as he dominated the following frames 57-17, 78-33, 72-46, 63-49 to take a 4-1 lead. Changezi made a strong comeback, winning four straight frames 75-63, 60-46, 73-35, 60-57 to level the score 4-4 and set up an exciting finale.

Imran took advantage of Changezi’s exhaustion and sealed the victory, winning the final two frames 59-24, 75-16.

Meanwhile, Sohail came from behind to win his semi-final despite Toba taking the lead in the first frame. Sohail hit back, winning the next frame 60-45 but Toba, who defeated Asian number two Mohammad Sajjad in the last round, bagged the third and fourth frames 64-30, 77-43. He lost the next frame but took a 4-2 lead.

However, Sohail recovered from the three-frame deficit and outclassed Toba 103-0 with a break of 60 and went on to win the match taking the next two frames 51-44, 116-0 and book his place in the final.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2010.