No place for wonder boy Majid Ali in Pakistan’s Asian snooker squad

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The training and conditioning camp for Pakistan’s eight-member national squad, due to participate in the upcoming Jubilee Insurance 29th Asian Snooker Championship 2013, is in progress at the Khurram Agha Snooker Club in Karachi but there’s no place for wonder boy Mohammad Majid Ali, could not force his way in the elite list. 

   

Majid Ali, who went down fighting against Noppon Saengkham of Thailand in a thrilling final of the 14th Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 2013 in the Indian town of Indore earlier this month, didn’t qualify for the Asian tourney being held in his home country because of the national federation’s decision to stick to the conventional system of going by the ranks rather than the talents or the form of the cueists. 

Although the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Federation (PBSF) has dared making changes in the traditional formats even at the cost of annoying some of the senior cueists, the officials have yet not mustered the courage to revising the selection criterion. 

It’s very tragic indeed that Majid Ali, having emerged as one of the top junior cueists of the country, will not be able to take part in the Asian Championship at a time when he’s in spectacular form. Isn’t it a pity that the lesser mortals will be allowed entry in the tournament only because they secured higher position than him in the last edition of the National Championship? 

The PBSF must rethink their strategy for future and they must not limit themselves by sticking to rules which were drafted in the period when the game was in fancy and idea seemed to inclined towards protect a few experienced fellows. 

Meanwhile eight-member Pakistan squad for the upcoming Asian Championship, to be staged at the Sheraton Karachi Hotel from April 27 to May 3, comprised of Mohammad Asif, Hamza Akbar, Imran Shahzad, Mohammad Sajjad, Abdul Sattar, Babar Masih, Shahid Aftab and Abu Saim. 

They are receiving camp training in Karachi since April 15. The camp will continue without a break for the next 10 days and the training would be held daily from 10 am to 4 pm. 

“The camp will wind up on April 24. It will also continue on Sunday to let the cueists train as hard as possible,” camp commandant, Naved Kapadia, who is also the federation’s Tournament Director, revealed. 

He clarified that the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) has a practice of allowing only six entries, not eight, to the host nation in every edition of the Asian Snooker Championship. 

“Mohammad Asif has earned a slot by virtue of being the world champion while Hamza Akbar, Imran Shahzad, Mohammad Sajjad, Abdul Sattar, Babar Masih and Shahid Aftab, the top six cueists in the national ranking chart, have been provided the opportunity to represent the country in the Asian event,” he explained. 

“The PBSF has approached the ACBS to let another cueist from Pakistan be granted an entry as a special case. That’s why Abu Saim has been added to the squad as a stand-by. He will only be able to play if the Federation was allowed an additional entry,” Naved Kapadia concluded.

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Noppon Saengkham shatters Majid Ali’s dreams in final

By Syed Khalid Mahmood 
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Mohammad Majid Ali’s dreams of bringing home the Asian Junior crown were shattered by Noppon Saengkham of Thailand in a thrilling final of the 14th Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 2013 in the Indian town of Indore on April 7.

  

Majid Ali had become Pakistan’s hope of annexing the title for the first time after the country’s premier cueist and the reigning national champion, Hamza Akbar, had been eliminated in the pre-quarter-finals a couple of days earlier. 

Both the teenagers from Faisalabad gave very impressive account of themselves to make their presence felt in a big way among the galaxy of top young cueists of the continent. They performed superbly and displayed enormous fighting qualities. Their never-say-die approach was the biggest positive to have come out of the one-week event. 

The Asian Junior title would have further lifted the Pakistan snooker which is already on a high following the triumph of Mohammad Asif in the World Championship late last year. There will be another chance for the duo of Majid Ali and Hamza Akbar alongwith Mohammad Asif to have a crack at the Asian Snooker Championship due to be staged in Karachi in a few weeks time. 

Incredibly all three of them belong to Faisalabad, a city famous for its industries, now making headlines for producing snooker champion material. 

  

Majid Ali fought very hard in the final of the Asian Junior Championship but Saengkham had the last laugh winning the tensely-fought encounter 6-5 with the scores being 62-63, 12-92), 91-1, 76-63, 24-73, 64-48, 37-85, 74-8, 112-15, 24-72, 63-46. 

The first blood was drawn by Majid Ali, who also doubled his lead by chalking up of a break of 66 in the second frame. Saengkham, however, caught up with breaks of 58 and 54 in the next two frames to make it 2-2. Majid Ali made it 3-2 by winning the fifth frame but Saengkham did’t take long to draw level again. 

The Pakistani youngster put his nose in front once more by taking the seventh frame and his rival fought back to snatch the eighth frame. It was Saengkham’s chance to move forward when he compiled a break of 66 in the ninth frame. This time Majid Ali drew level by clinching the tenth frame. The decisive eleventh frame went to the wire with the cueist from Thailand emerging triumphant in the closest of duels.

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Asif crashes in Dubai snooker final

By Syed Khalid Mahmood  
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pakistan’s premier cueist Mohammad Asif fell at the last hurdle of the 2012 Dubai International Open Snooker Tournament as he was overpowered by the 20-year-old Noppon Saengkham of Thailand in the final at the Dubai Snooker Club on November 10. 

The 27-year-old Asif appeared on course of bringing home their first cue sports title in 12 years but he couldn’t come to terms with the brilliance of the Thailand youngster who won the best of nine-frame final 5-2 with the scores of 61-10, 49-60, 60-40, 69-9, 31-63, 74-27, 64-46. 

Having performed exceptionally well in the semifinals, Asif held the psychological advantage going into the final but after having snatched two of the five frames he ran out of the steam in the decisive phase to lose the duel. 

Asif had produced stunning performance in the semifinals less than 24 hours ago as he whacked the dangerous Andy Lee of Hong Kong in straight frames. 

Saengkha, however, played superior game in the final and there was not much Pakistan's top cueist could have done to prevent the inevitable.

His defeat in the final meant Pakistan will have to wait longer for another cue sports title. After Mohammad Yousuf’s victory in the World Championship in 1994 and the Asian Championship in 1998 and Shaukat Ali’s gold medal in the individual event of the Asian Games in 1998, it was Mohammad Shafiq who clinched a regional title in 2000. 

Pakistan’s second participant, Asjad Iqbal, had crashed in the quarter-finals after having performed impressively in the league matches. He was knocked over by Lee whom Asif overwhelmed in the semifinal.

Saengkham, having outwitted Karam Fatima of Syria 5-3 in the semifinal, continued his brilliant form in the final to earn another title for Thailand, having emerged as the most powerful cue sports nation of Asia. 

The top 32 cueists of Asia belonging to 11 countries entered the competition. As many an as 16 of them were eliminated after the first round of league matches with the top 16 battling it out in another league round. 

Eight cueists were left in the arena for the knockout games and the line-up featured two qualifiers each from Pakistan, Thailand and Syria and one each from Hong Kong and hosts UAE.

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