Another title in world champ Ayouri’s bag

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, the reigning world champion from Iran, added another feather to his cap by winning the 13th Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 2012 as he overpowered Anda Zhang of China in the final of the event staged in Goa, India.

The impossibly gifted Iranian teenager, having survived a scare at the hands of Noppon Saengkham of Thailand in the semifinals, recorded a cakewalk 6-2 win over Anda Zhang in the final with the frame scores of 121-6, 87-37, 74-0, 126-6, 79-5, 12-69, 29-76, 91-13.

Hossein Ayouri, who had created a sensation by clinching the world crown in Indian city of Bangalore last year, was in sublime form to crush his Chinese rival in the best of 11-frame final which turned out to be a one-sided affair.

He started off with a break of 79 in the opening frame which he won comfortably. There was some resistance in the second frame but there was none in the next three frames, in which he fired breaks of 74, 105 and 67.

He was firmly in control of the proceedings with a 5-0 lead in remarkably quick time, needing just one more to pocket the title. His opponent survived a clean sweep by winning the next two frames but it was all over in eight frames.

Unlike the lop-sided final, both the semifinals went to the full distance of nine frames. Hossein Ayouri had to bring all his expertise into play while overcoming Noppon Saengkham 5-4 with the scores of 70-17, 41-52, 73-00, 109-7, 105-22, 5-119, 28-77, 31-75, 74-36 while Anda Zhang faced similar fight before taming compatriot Zhou Yelong 5-4 with the frame scores of 52-64, 76-1, 87-64, 59-40, 5-104, 109-0, 6-70, 57-44.

Both of the matches witnessed snooker of high class with neither of the contestants prepared to give up. There were quite a few big breaks as well. Hossein Ayouri fired breaks of 69, 73, 90 and 83 while his rival, Noppon Saengkham, responded with breaks of 67 and 60 to keep the contest alive till the very end.

Anda Zhang chalked up breaks of 76 an 59 in suucessive frame before making one of 109 in the seventh frame. His opponent, Zhou Yelong, began with a frame 52 in the opening frame and followed it up with the ones of 104 and 70 in sixth and eighth frames respectively.

In the quarter-finals Zhou Yelong of China registered a couple of century breaks while overpowering Mohammad. Lababi of Iran 5-3 with the frame scores of 61-72, 112-0, 57-56, 78-23, 5-88, 65-31, 103-2.

Anda Zhang, also from China, stormed into the semifinals by whacking compatriot Lu Ning in straight frames with the scores of 61-56, 67-42, 87-24, 59-51, 108-0 while Noppon Saengkham of Thailand blanked Laxman Rawat of India in straight frames with the scores of 83-0, 79-41, 64-44, 104-4, 75-4.

Hossein Ayouri had to work little harder than anticipated in the quarter-finals while outwitting compatriot Amir Sarkhosh 5-2 with the frame scores of 57-11, 57-53, 54-63, 71-1, 64-8, 38-64, 63-44.

Neither of the Pakistani cueist could force way into the last eight as both Mohammad Hunain Aamir and Mohammad Majid Ali, were defeated in the pre-quarter-finals after having fared well in the league matches. A total of 33 cueists from 10 countries entered the eight-day event, which was inaugurated on April 2.

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Pakistan’s cueists run of steam after early brilliance in Asian Junior snooker

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Both the Pakistani cueists, Mohammad Hunain Aamir and Mohammed Majid Ali, after having performed exceedingly well in the league matches, crashed in their maiden knockout appearance of the 13th Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 2012, in Goa, India, on April 6.

Hunain Aamir and Majid Ali, both of whom were making their debut at the continental level, went down fighting against their respective rivals in pre-quarter-finals.

Laxman Rawat of India edged out Majid Ali in the afternnon session and a few hours later all Pakistan’s hopes of capturing the Asian crown at the junior level for the first time, were dashed when Mohammad Lababi of Iran blew the whistle on Hunain Aamir.

Majid Ali, who became the Group D champion after winning all his three league fixtures, went down fighting in the pre-quarter-finals against Laxman Rawat of India. The promising Pakistani cueist played well to register big breaks in the high-pressure game but he was unable to press home the advantage.

It turned out to be a fierce seven-frame battle in which the local cueist controlled his nerves better to clinch the decisive frame to win the contest 4-3 with the scores of 75-2, 27-80, 79-31, 68-60, 13-95, 0-83, 65-54.

Majid came back to strongly from 1-3 down to make it 3-3. He compiled breaks of 60, 54, 53 and 54 during the last four frames but that was not enough to win the day for him.

The youngster from Faisalabad, who ended as the runner-up in the Jubilee Pakistan National Junior Championship earlier this year in Lahore, had registered impressive victories over Akani Songsermasawad of Thailand, Chang Yu Kiu of Hong Kong and Slyavosh Mozayani of Iran in his league encounters but he fell at the very hurdle in the knockout phase, starting from the round of 16.

Mohammad Lababi defeated Hunain Aamir 4-3 with the scores of 60-26, 75-41, 62-37, 33-62, 43-62, 15-86, 88-0. The Iranian played magnificently in the decisive seventh frame, giving his rival nothing away by registering a break of 88.

In the penultimate frame, Hunain Aamir, on whose shoulders Pakistan’s hopes of bringing home the title rested after the elimination of Majid Ali, fired a break of 58 to take the match into the seventh frame but he didn’t get much of a chance to visit the table which turned decisive.

Hunain Aamir, who reached the pre-quarter-finals even after succumbing to defeat in his last league encounter at the hands of Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, the current world champion from Iran earlier in the day, could not regroup quickly.

Pakistan’s reigning national junior champion from Sialkot had booked his place in the pre-quarters from the Group A by trouncing Lalit Dahiya of India and Marcus Lim Wei Jie of Singapore in his first couple of games.

His third and final against Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, was to decide the Group A champion, and the top seeded cueist from Iran, triumphed 4-1 with the frame scores of 97-4, 69-0, 79-1, 51-75, 96-0. The only consolation for Hunain was snatching the third frame in which he surprised the world champion with a break of 57.

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Hunain, Majid off to Goa for Asian battle

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Pakistan’s promising teenaged duo of Mohammad Hunain Aamir and Mohammad Majid Ali have left the shores of the country to participate in the 13th Asian Junior (U-21) Snooker Championship 2012 starting in Goa, India, on April 2.

Both the cueists, alongwith referee Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, who will also be acting as manager, flew out of Karachi on March 31 and they will be reaching Goa, via Colombo and Mumbai, on April 1.

A total of 33 cueists from 10 countries will be contesting the 13th edition of the Asian Junior Championship which gets underway on Monday. The participants have been divided in eight groups with the top two to reach the knockout stage starting with the pre-quarter-finals. The final will be played on April 9.

Hosts India are fielding the highest number of cueists with half a dozen entries while Iran, with five, have the biggest participation among the foreign teams. Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have three participants each while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have two entries each.

Sialkot’s Mohammad Hunain Aamir, emerged triumphant in the Jubilee Insurance Pakistan Junior Under-21 Snooker Championship 2012 staged in Lahore, has been placed in the Group A, alongwith Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, the reigning world champion from Iran, Lalit Dhaiya of India and Marcus Lim Wie Jie of Singapre.

Faisalabad’s Mohammad Majid Ali, who ended runner-up in the National Junior Championship, has been drawn in the Group D in the company of Akani Songsermasawad (Thailand), Chang Yung Kiu (Hong Kong) and Sylavosh Mozayani (Iran).

It will be maiden international exposure for both the talented youngsters, who, however, were granted an opportunity by the PBSA of competing in the Jubilee Insurance Pakistan 37th National Snooker Championship 2012 held in Karachi last month.

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