Hamza ousts defending champion Asif

Pakistan youngster moves into semi-finals of Asian snooker event

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s snooker prodigy Hamza Akbar produced the biggest upset of the ongoing Asian 6-Red Championship as he defeated defending champion Mohammad Asif 6-3 in their last-16 match at a local hotel in Karachi yesterday.

Hamza then went onto win his quarter-final as well and will be up against Iran’s Amir Sarkosh in the semi-final. The other last-four match will be played between Iran’s Hossien Vafaei Ayouri and Thailand’s Boonyarit Kaettikun.

Hamza shocked his mentor Asif in a roller-coaster match as he won with a scoreline of 04-68, 36-18, 35-32, 0-71(71), 50-0, 66-0, 0-69, 37-14 and 54-09.

He then defeated Sohail Shehzad 6-5 in the last-eight match, while Sarkosh ended Mohammad Sajjad’s hopes with a 6-4 triumph.

Meanwhile, Ayouri thrashed Mohammad Asif Toba 6-1 as another tough match was witnessed between Kaettikun and Singapore’s Ang Boon Chin, which was won by the former 6-5 with a scoreline of 19-39, 19-29, 23-42, 52-14, 20-31, 41-11, 39-0, 53-08, 53-01, 20-29 and 52-0.

“It’s an amazing win for me because I’ve beaten the defending champion Asif,” Hamza told The Express Tribune.

“Although I was aiming to do well in these Asian Championships, it never crossed my mind that I would be able to beat Asif and then will move into the semi-final.  These wins have certainly given me a huge confidence boost and now I feel that I can fight for the title as well. I know it will be tough from here, but I need to back my game and myself.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2014.

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