Babar wins maiden national title

KARACHI: Fourth seed Babar Masih staged a magnificent comeback, overcoming some anxious moments, to capture his maiden national title as he tamed seventh seed Asjad Iqbal in the all-Punjab final of the Jubilee Insurance 2nd Ranking Snooker Championship 2016 here at Hotel Movenpick on Saturday.

Making his first-ever appearance in the final of any national ranking event, the 29-year-old Babar Masih from Rawalpindi handled his nerves better to edge out his dangerous opponent 6-5 with the frame scores of 8-66, 58-49, 20-67, 39-71, 57-56, 0-123, 80-45, 64-57, 61-64, 79-49, 68-13.

The final, which seemed to be in the grasp of the 24-year-old Asjad Iqbal, belonging to Sargodha, at the intermission, was turned around by Babar Masih after resumption who succeeded in making it 6-5 from being 1-5 down.

Asjad Iqbal, who had smashed the higher seeds in his earlier matches, began in a spectacular fashion, going 4-0 up in the best of 11-frame encounter. He was leading in the fifth frame too when Babar Masih produced a break of 57 to make it 1-4.

A break of 72 in the very next frame earned Asjad Iqbal 5-1 lead and he was just one frame away from pocketing the title going into the lunch break.

The complexion of the match changed in the post-lunch session as Babar Masih gained in confidence and displayed better self-belief. It brought him results and he was able to make it five-all after winning four frames on a trot.

He ran into 47-0 lead in the decisive 11th frame at which point he was consistently deserted by lady luck. Fortunately for him, his rival was found wanting to cash it and Babar Masih finally won it after some anxious moments.

“Yes indeed I was nervous in the initial phase of the match and the thought of playing a final for the first time did bother me. Thankfully I settled down as the match progressed and I was able to play my top game in the decisive phase,” Babar Masih admitted while talking to the reporters with the glittering trophy in his one hand.

“I am mighty pleased to have clinched the title. I have worked very hard for it and now I will focus on bringing laurels for the country at the international level, whenever provided the opportunity,” he added.

Babar Masih, who also won the award for registering the highest break of the eight-day championship, dedicated his maiden title triumph to the legendary boxer, Mohammad Ali, who had passed away earlier in the day.

Asjad Iqbal, who could not hold on to his strong position as he was guilty of missing too many chances besides adopting defensive approach in the latter part of the final, rather strangely attributed his defeat to bad luck whereas he was generally understood to be the luckier of the two cueists because it was his opponent who was hard done by the rub of the green.

The prize distribution ceremony, also telecasted live on Geo Super, was held soon after the conclusion of the 11-frame final which lasted five and a half hours.

Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), who was also the chief guest on the occasion, expressed his delight at the growing depth of snooker in the country.

“It’s very encouraging for us to note that the newcomers have started performing exceptionally well of late. Mohammad Bilal emerged as the new national champion a few months ago and now Babar Masih has won a national ranking tournament for the first time. These are healthy signs and augur well for the future of snooker in Pakistan,” he observed.

He presented the trophy along with a cheque of Rs70,000 to Babar Masih for winning the event, while Asjad Iqbal received the runner-up trophy with a cheque of Rs40,000. The losing semi-finalists, Sohail Shahzad and Abu Saim, collected Rs15,000 each, while Babar Masih earned another purse of Rs5,000 for registering the highest break of 135.