Full marks for effort: In-form Rambail falls to Sajjad in final
K-P cueist loses to top-ranked player’s superior skills in ranking event.
KARACHI:
Pakistan’s top player Muhammad Sajjad continued his dominant run after clinching the Langnese Ranking Snooker Championship title by defeating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Rambail Gul 8-3 in the final played at the NBP Sports Complex, Karachi.
It was Rambail – a player on a scintillating run throughout the event – who took the early lead in the finale, but Sajjad soon asserted his authority by winning the second frame without conceding a single point.
After being 1-0 down, Sajjad amassed a 5-1 lead after winning five consecutive frames.
However, Rambail broke the one-way trend to win the seventh frame by a margin of just seven points, only to see Sajjad restore his four-frame lead by winning the next frame.
Rambail continued to fight and made it 6-3, but that was all that Pakistan’s number one cueist allowed as Sajjad finished off the match by winning the 10th and 11th frames with a scoreline of 16-60, 98-0(67), 67-11, 119-0(96), 75-23, 69-22, 59-66, 78-10(70), 31-77(55), 88-12 and 53-16.
The winner received a cash prize of Rs60,000 and the runner-up pocketed Rs35,000.
“I’m really happy on winning the title because that is what I wanted to do after finishing as runner-up in the IBSF World Championship,” Sajjad told The Express Tribune.
“It’s not easy to play against the youngsters anymore because they have improved the standard of their play, which is a positive sign for Pakistan snooker, especially with the world championships to be hosted by us next year.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2014.
Pakistan’s top player Muhammad Sajjad continued his dominant run after clinching the Langnese Ranking Snooker Championship title by defeating Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Rambail Gul 8-3 in the final played at the NBP Sports Complex, Karachi.
It was Rambail – a player on a scintillating run throughout the event – who took the early lead in the finale, but Sajjad soon asserted his authority by winning the second frame without conceding a single point.
After being 1-0 down, Sajjad amassed a 5-1 lead after winning five consecutive frames.
However, Rambail broke the one-way trend to win the seventh frame by a margin of just seven points, only to see Sajjad restore his four-frame lead by winning the next frame.
Rambail continued to fight and made it 6-3, but that was all that Pakistan’s number one cueist allowed as Sajjad finished off the match by winning the 10th and 11th frames with a scoreline of 16-60, 98-0(67), 67-11, 119-0(96), 75-23, 69-22, 59-66, 78-10(70), 31-77(55), 88-12 and 53-16.
The winner received a cash prize of Rs60,000 and the runner-up pocketed Rs35,000.
“I’m really happy on winning the title because that is what I wanted to do after finishing as runner-up in the IBSF World Championship,” Sajjad told The Express Tribune.
“It’s not easy to play against the youngsters anymore because they have improved the standard of their play, which is a positive sign for Pakistan snooker, especially with the world championships to be hosted by us next year.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2014.