Snooker president disappointed with Sajjad

Cueist’s failure to reach the quarters in World Championship irks Shaikh.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top cueist Mohammad Sajjad turned out to be a big disappointment at the IBSF World Amateur Snooker Championship for the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Shaikh.

In contrast, Imran Shahzad and Sohail Shahzad, part of the Pakistan’s contingent, impressed the official with their performance. Imran made it to the last-16 while Sohail was outplayed in the last-32. Sajjad, who the PBSA had high hopes with, was defeated in the round-of-32 as well.

“I can’t say that I am satisfied with the performance by all our cueists,” Shaikh told The Express Tribune. “Sajjad could have done better. He couldn’t win a single frame in his last match which is extremely disappointing for me because I was rooting for him as our best talent.

“In the same way, Imran played well throughout but he lost without putting up a fight in the pre-quarters. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Sohail. This was his first time playing in the tournament and even though he was defeated I think he played well.”

Shaikh claimed that the biggest benefit of the championship went to Imran and Sohail as it helped them boost their confidence for the forthcoming Asian Championship 2011 that will be held in India. But the PBSA president felt that Sajjad needed to concentrate on his game as his performance has not improved since October.

Meanwhile, Imran expressed his satisfaction with his performance.

“I just lost a few matches, so I feel good about that,” said Imran. “But the cold weather and bad arrangements affected my game in the pre-quarterfinal. The temperature was sub-zero and we had to stop the game every 15 minutes due to power failures. My hands were numb and I couldn’t continue at one point.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2010.