Hamza Akbar clinches national snooker title

The Faisalabad-based cueist won for the second time after beating Changezi

KARACHI: Hamza Akbar won his second national title as he beat Shahram Changezi 8-4 in the 15-frame final of the 40^th National Snooker Championship on Monday.

The Faisalabad-based cueist holds the record for being the youngest national champion when he won the tile back in 2013 at the age of 19.

He had been in fine form prior to the final, having beaten his mentor Muhammad Sajjad 6-3 in the semi-final, while his chances increased some more when Changezi got the better of former IBSF world champion Muhammad Asif.

Hamza dominated the first and second frames before Changezi made it 2-1 after winning the third.

However, Hamza fought back to restore his two-frame advantage to go 3-1 up before Changezi once again managed to cut down the lead by winning the fifth frame.

The youngster then won the sixth frame to increase his dominance to close onto the title.

Islamabad-based Changezi tried really hard to leave his mark, with the next four frames a close encounter. However, Hamza triumphed with a scoreline of 81-26, 68-27, 40-63, 68-05(56), 50-64, 101-20(58), 97-27(57), 58-72, 66-24, 78-51, 64-72 and 68-28.

“I was confident that the title would be mine once I beat an in-form Sajjad in the semi-final,” Hamza told The Express Tribune.

“That was a really big victory because Sajjad had played in the 2014 IBSF World Championship final as well. I played well today [Monday] and I’m glad I’ll be representing Pakistan at the Asian Championship along with Changezi.”

Hamza pocketed Rs80,000 for his efforts while Changezi received Rs50,000. The losing semi-finalists were given Rs20,000 each and Rs10,000 were given to those who crashed out in the quarter-finals.

Sajjad and Sultan Ahmed were awarded Rs10,000 for hitting the highest breaks of 131 points.

 

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