Iqbal defends title against world champion Asif

Young cueist wins 8-7 in closely-contested national ranking event match.

KARACHI:

Talented youngster Asjad Iqbal registered a stunning 8-7 win over IBSF world champion Mohammad Asif in the final to successfully defend his title at the 5th NBP Snooker Ranking Championship yesterday.

It was a see-saw contest right from the beginning, as Iqbal built a stunning 3-0 lead before Asif made it 3-2 to make a strong comeback. From being 4-2 up, Iqbal lost his lead again as Asif gained the upper hand by going ahead 4-5 as the match heated up and started living up to expectations.

Both the players then started to misfire as they missed easy shots with the game getting intense, but in the end Iqbal came out the winner.

A shy Iqbal was jubilant with the triumph as he came up short of words to express his feelings.

“It’s great to win a title against a world champion,” said Iqbal. “I always have tough matches against Asif, who has taught me how to remain calm in crunch situations.”

Asif had encouraging words for the youngster, stating that he displayed great nerves in a tense match.

“It was a fantastic match as both of us were going for the kill, but it remained evenly poised till the very end,” Asif told The Express Tribune.

“In the end, one had to win and one had to lose and this time it was Asjad who came out triumphant. All the credit goes to him for being resilient in a tense battle as he played well despite missing some easy pots initially in the match.”

Pakistan has a bright future: Asif

The world champion stated that Pakistan has a bright future as the likes of youngsters Iqbal, Humza Akbar and Mohammad Majid are very talented.

“It’s not just me who is the real hope, the good thing for Pakistan is that the trio of Asjad, Humza and Majid are all very capable to win laurels for the country. I’m sure they will deliver as well in the near future as they are immensely talented and need a little bit of refining in their play.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2013.

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