Rampaging Asif comes from behind to edge out Shahid in epic national final

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The mercurial Muhammad Asif, easily the greatest cueist to be produced by the country in the recent past, continued his march towards glory by regaining the national crown yet again. 

The top seeded cueist, also the reigning world champion, came from behind in the final against unseeded Shahid Aftab to win the Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020 at the Karachi Gymkhana on February 12. It’s the fourth time he has won the Nationals, having done it earlier in 2009, 2012 and 2018. 

It was an all-Faisalabad final as both the cueists, living in close vicinity of each other in the industrial city, had outsmarted their opponents in the earlier matches to set a date for the title clash. 

The final, telecast live on Geo Super, lasted no less than six hours without any break. The snooker fans, all over the world, got the opportunity of watching an epic final between two seasoned campaigners. 

The 38-year-old Shahid looked the obvious favourite to reclaim the trophy when he ran into 6-2 and then 7-3 lead in the best of 15-frame final but the 37-year-old Asif staged magnificent comeback from the brink of disaster to win the contest 8-7 with the scores of 21-69, 80-73, 67-20, 26-49, 42-77, 25-106, 35-69, 1-76, 116-0, 88-2, 0-107, 78-32, 72-35, 62-48, 70-28. 

Shahid drew the first blood by winning the opening frame. He was set to double his lead until Asif chalked up a break of 69 to snatch the second frame. Asif moved ahead with another fine break of 63 in the third frame but Shahid, quite remarkably, won the next five frames to go into a commanding 6-2 lead. Asif narrowed the deficit by securing the ninth frame but Shahid produced an excellent break 85 in the very next frame to go 7-3 up. 

Shahid needed at this stage was just one more frame but Asif didn’t let it happen with a mixture of good fortune and incredible resilience. Slowly but surely Asif got into his elements and there was hardly any doubt about the outcome when the two cueists entered the arena for the decisive 15th frame of a marathon final. 

“Oh yes there were times during the final when I thought it might not be my day and Shahid could run away with the title. But I also held a firm belief that my opponent could make an odd mistake here or there to let me provide the opening I needed and, as everybody saw, he did play a few false strokes and I was back in business,” Asif remarked. 

“Experience of taking the game deep comes handy as this quality is not built overnight, no matter how talented the cueist may be. I have also learnt it after toiling hard for so many years and the ability to absorb pressure indeed has become my forte now,” he added. 

“I played to the best of my ability and came very close to regaining the national title after nearly a decade. But Asif played better than me in the end and he capitalized on my mistakes to change the course of the match,” Shahid said rather sportingly. 

"No, I was not overawed by the reputation of my opponent or anything like it. Simply I had to pay the price of committing the mistakes which I could have avoided. May be I was little eager to go for the kill which resulted in playing shots which could have been avoided,” he reckoned. 

The final, going to the full distance of 15 frames, was followed by the prize distribution ceremony, also beamed live, in which Syed Usman Qaiser, Head of Marketing, Jubilee Life Insurance, and Tauseef Shah, Head of Marketing, Jubilee General Insurance, presented awards to the outstanding performers. 

Both the dignitaries vowed to extend support for snooker in future as well as they praised the inspirational performance of the Pakistani cueists at the international level, earning laurels for the country. 

A beaming Asif collected a cheque of Rupees one lac alongwith the winner’s trophy while Shahid received a cheque of Rupees fifty thousand with the runner-up trophy.  

Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, Co-Chairman, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), described Asif as a living legend. 

“Besides winning the World Championship a couple of times now Asif has also clinched the national title four times and he fully deserves to be regarded as modern snooker legend,” Alamgir Shaikh commended. 

Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, President, PBSA, announced that both Asif and Shahid, by virtue of being the finalists of the Nationals 2020, will now be representing the country in the upcoming Asian Snooker Championship. 

Fawad Malik, President, Karachi Gymkhana, promised to continue supporting the cause of snooker and other sports from the platform of the club.

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Asghar Valika regrets loss of form of top cueists

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Chairman of the Pakistan Billiard & Snooker Association (PBSA), Ali Asghar Valika, the father figure of snooker in the country, has regretted the loss of form of some of the top cueists of the country and hoped that efforts will be made to keep them motivated and inspired.

In the next Board meeting he plans to propose to the PBSA Executive to take measures to ensure that the once leading cueists of the country continue performing more consistently. 

He was concerned with the loss of form the cueists Muhammad Sajjad and Shahid Aftab, both former champions, who performed much below par in the Jubilee Insurance 43rd National Snooker Championship 2018 held at the Karachi Gymkhana a few days ago. 

Asghar Valika, who revived the Pakistan snooker while leading the PBSA from 1988 to 2008, didn’t mince words in stating that he was not impressed with the performance of the eventual champion (Muhammad Asif) either. 

“I have a feeling that Asif couldn’t reproduce the form which had made him the world champion in 2012 and the national champion earlier the same year,” he observed.

“The youngsters like Asif, Sajjad, Shahid and a few others had first come into prominence when I was heading the Association. They had shown flashes of brilliance in early career and we took care of them to boost their confidence and skills. They have repaid by having performed well internationally over the years but now some chinks in their armoury are becoming visible,” the PBSA Chairman added. 

“Now the time has come for the management to talk to them and take care of their needs. Personally I feel that they would become much more productive if mentored by prolific coaches. They are blessed with talent and experience but they do need guidance and direction,” he explained.

“While it’s very heartening that the youngsters are emerging from every nook and corner of the country to challenge the top cueists of the country but we must not lose sight of the fact that the current lot of experienced cueists have brought us laurels in the recent past. They deserve to be looked after properly,” Asghar Valika felt. 

He was optimistic that the present leadership of the PBSA, which was eager to further promote cue sports in the country, will take remedial measures without further delay.

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Shahid Aftab set to become Pakistan’s 16th cueist to appear in World Championship

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Shahid Aftab, an accomplished cueist from Faisalabad, is set to become 16th Pakistani to participate in the World Snooker Championship which celebrates its golden jubilee this year. 

Latif Amir Bakhsh, Tanvir Dada, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Amir Bakhsh, Naveen Perwani, Saleh Mohammad, Farhan Mirza, Imran Puri, Mohammad Shafiq, Khurram Agha, Imran Shahzad, Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Asif, Sohail Shahzad and Asjad Iqbal are the other cueists from Pakistan to have played in the World Championship, having been instituted in 1963. 

Mohammad Yousuf and Mohammad Asif are the only ones to have captured the world crown. Yousuf achieved this feat at Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1994 while Asif emulated him 18 years later at Bulgaria, Sofia. 

Asif will be defending his title in the 2013 IBSF World Snooker Championship to be staged in Daugavpils, Latvia, from September 27 to December 8. He will be accompanied by Shahid Aftab and Imran Shahzad as Pakistan will be fielding three entries this time round because of him being the holder. 

Shahid has made the cut by having emerged triumphant in the Jubilee Insurance 3rd Ranking Snooker Championship 2013 at the Karachi Sheraton Hotel on September 26. He has now become the top ranked cueist of the country.

Imran, who made his international debut at Korat, Thailand, in 2007, will be making his fourth appearance in the World Championship, having also participated at Damascus, Syria, in 2010 and at Bangalore, India, the following year. 

Asif, who won the National Championship in 2009, made his debut in the World Championship later the same year at Hyderabad, India. He missed the action in the global event in 2010 but returned to represent the country in 2011. He then rewrote history by winning the world crown at Sofia, Bulgaria, last year.

Yousuf had been participating in the World Championship every year since 1988. After winning the title in 1994, he appeared in the 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000 editions of the premier amateur event. Still active in the national circuit, he has had the distinction of playing in exactly a dozen editions of the World Championship, which is the Pakistan record for the highest appearances. He also holds the record of winning the National Championship on the highest number of occasions. 

Saleh Mohammad, who has now emigrated to Afghanistan, represented Pakistan in as many as 11 editions of the World Championship from 1993 to 2004. He could have surpassed Yousuf’s record if the event was not scrapped in 2001 and 2005. He had come closest to claiming the world title in 2003 when, after winning the earlier 14 games on a trot, he was downed in the final by Pankaj Advani of India at Jiangmen, China. 

Naveen Kumar Perwani participated in the World Championships in 1992, 1993, 1995, and 2006 while Khurram Hussain Agha earned this honour in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008. Mohammad Sajjad has appeared in a couple of editions of the World Championship (2009 and 2010) while Sohail Shahzad and Asjad Iqbal represented Pakistan in the global event in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

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Shahid Aftab qualifies for World Championship by annexing Jubilee Ranking snooker

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Neither the world champion Mohammad Asif nor the defending champion Asjad Iqbal could force their way into the semifinals of the Jubilee Insurance 3rd Ranking Snooker Championship 2013. Top seeded Imran Shahzad also failed to make it to the final which was contested between fourth seed Shahid Aftab and sixth seed Abdul Sattar at the Karachi Sheraton Hotel on September 26.

Shahid Aftab prevailed over Abdul Sattar 7-4 in the best of 13-frame encounter with the scores of 56-76, 64-68, 73-51, 47-74, 114-3, 74-16, 40-66, 71-25, 58-46, 73-39, 61-59. The match was closer than the final scoreline suggested. Eventually the glory came in the way 

Shahid Aftab, a former national champion from Faisalabad. He was not only rewarded with the winner’s trophy alongwith a purse of Rs 70,000 but he also achieved the cherished goal of earning the right to represent Pakistan in the World Snooker Championship later this year by virtue of becoming the top ranked cueist of the country. He will be a part of the Pakistan’s World Championship squad, alongwith the reigning champion Mohammad Asif, also from Faisalabad, and Imran Shahzad, belonging to Lahore.

Abdul Sattar, one of the most accomplished cueists of Karachi, had his moments in the final but the additional pressure of vying for the World Championship slot took its toll and he reasons to feel heart-broken after being in such spectacular for throughout the seven-day event. 

Although making his maiden appearance in the final of a national ranking event, he had drawn the first blood and was looking good in the first half of the match. He was better poised to clinch the trophy when he led 4-3 but he couldn't put his acts together in the last few frames against an opponent, who had greater experience of big matches. 

The consolation for Sattar, however, was his elevation to third position in the national ranking chart, having been positioned sixth before the start of the tourney.

Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, Commissioner Karachi, was to be the chief guest in the prize distribution ceremony, according to an official announcement by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) only a day earlier. But it could be ascertained immediately what prompted the governing body of cue sports to invite a cricket celebrity like Shahid Afridi, a former Pakistan captain, to run away with the spotlight in the presentation ceremony. 

The PBSA President, Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, does have the reputation of springing surprises once in a while and it was probably one of those moves. It looked surprising to say the least because the snooker officials often complain, officially, about being overshadowed by cricket. If they themselves would provide the stage to the cricketers in their prized functions they would lose the right of making an anti-cricket statement in future. 

Tahir Ahmed, Managing Director, Jubilee General Insurance, representing the sponsors, was also present in the closing ceremony of the event in which cash prizes of Rs 165,000 were disbursed among the top performers.

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