Imran displays superb control to trounce Asif

Displaying his potting ability and cue control, second seed Imran Shehzad notched up a convincing 6-2 victory over eighth seed Mohammad Asif to reach the final of third NBP ranking snooker championship at Karachi Club on Tuesday.

Imran, 36, won the all-Punjab battle 96-0, 61-19, 70-32, 45-92, 104-0, 21-90, 72-14, 72-71 that lasted for some two-and-a-half hour. The highlight of the triumph was a splendid century break (104) which is fourth of the event and two elegant breaks of 70 and 57. Asif had two breaks of 67 and 42 to his credit.

This is Imran’s back-to-back final in the domestic circuit this year. Earlier, he had lost the final of 36th national championship to qualifier Shahid Aftab in February.

Imran will be up against local player Sohail Shahzad in the best of 15 frames final which gets into action at 11am on Wednesday. Imran’s consistent performance has secured him top slot in the next national ranking no matter he wins or lose the final. Presently, he is ranked second.

Imran, a member of Pakistan’s bronze medal winning team at the Guangzhou Asian Games last year, set the pace right from the word go despite repeated power interruption.

He seized a commendable 3-0 lead winning the first three frames 96-0, 61-19, 70-32 with a break of 70 in the opener. Imran had no answer to Asif’s break of 67 as he loses the fourth frame 45-92 that reduced his lead to 1-3.

Imran delighted fraternity of the game by chalking up a century break (104) as he won the fifth frame 104-0 to take 4-1 lead. He again conceded the sixth 21-90 only to bounce back to win the following two 72-14 and 72-71 and the match.

Imran build up a break of 57 in the seventh while Asif compiled a break of 42 in the concluding frame.

Result:
Second semi-final: Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 6-2 (96-0, 61-19, 70-32, 45-92, 104-0, 21-90, 72-14, 72-71).

Wednesday’s fixtures:
Best of 15 frames final. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) at 11am.

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