KARACHI, May 30: Third seed and defending champion Saleh Mohammad, stormed in from behind to retain his trophy, when he snatched the spoils from top seed Khurram Hussain Agha, in the Seventh Red & White Style Snooker Championship played on Friday at the Karachi Gymkhana.

Earlier in the semifinal played a day before, Saleh beat second seed Mohammad Yousuf 6-3, while Khurram ended the pretensions of unseeded Mohammad Asif from Rawalpindi, making his maiden appearance, by the same margin.

When play began on Friday afternoon, Khurram began his campaign for the trophy like a runaway train, grabbing the first three frames before Saleh got into is strides.

In a bit of bother trailing 0-3, with numerous unforced errors being the cause, Saleh finally got his act together winning the next two frames 68/14, 65/6 laced with a break of 59.

Khurram aware that his dangerous adversary was closing the gap, now trailing 2-3, chalked up a masterful break of 71 which had Saleh on the ropes again as Khurram increased his lead 4-2.

In the next frame Khurram took a useful lead, but Saleh with the stamp of a champion, picked up the frame 69/39 helped along with a break of 39.

With confidence regained only a frame behind 4-3, Saleh began the eighth frame with a small break of 29. Khurram however, cashing in on a fluke on the red, raced into the lead with a quick break of 44.

Following this up with 16 more points in his next visit to the table, Khurram seemed certain to pinch the eighth frame to take a 5-3 lead, just a frame away from victory.

But a costly misjudgment by the top seed cost him the frame and match.

Khurram leading in this frame by 34 points with 35 on the table and instead of potting the black ball smoothly ideally placed near the left-hand pocket that would have sealed the match in his favour, Khurram thinking that Saleh now needed snookers to win this match went for a cannon on the black.

He looked rather disturbed when the black ball hit the pocket and bounced back into play. With the one red ball and the six coloured balls ideally placed Khurram was now at Saleh’s mercy. Taking his time Saleh potted the red with black and followed it up with yellow, green, brown and blue.

Now going for a sitter pink, Saleh gave Khurram more breathing space failing to sink pink, as the crowd looked on amazed in pindrop silence.

Khurram did have three more chances to pot, pink but the coloured ball never came in his clutches.

Finally Saleh potted pink with black and won the exciting frame 62/61 to be on level terms for the first time in the match 4-4.

Now in full flow, Saleh went on the attack potting practically everything in sight.

Khurram tried desperately hard to stem the tide but Saleh went through a 92/48 winner taking over the lead 5-4, just one frame away from the trophy and prize money.

Khurram gave his fans a glimmer of hope by taking an early lead in the 10th frame. Saleh replying with 37 points on the trot was racing away for victory.

With defeat staring him in the face Khurram needed two snookers with the pink and black left on the table. A tall order indeed, hanging on like a drowning man to the straw.

Saleh potted pink and it was all over bar the cheering, Saleh came through a had fourth 6-4 winner, surrounded by his large circle of friends and admirers.

Zahid Bashir, President of the Karachi Gymkhana was the chief guest on the occasion and presented the winner and runnersup with their cash awards and glittering trophies.

Saleh Mohammad received the winners cheque for Rs.60,000, while Khurram had to be content with Rs.35,000.

The two semi-finalists Mohammad Yousuf and newcomer Mohammad Asif received Rs.15,000 each, while the four quarter-finalists Shah Khan Maveen Perwani, Nauman Awan and Atiq Latif Bux picked up Rs.8000 apiece.

The eight pre-quarterfinalists Imran Shehzad, Imran Mughal, Mohammad Nazir Vishan Gir, Arifullah, Rambel Gul, Mustafa Hyder and Abu Saim each got cash awards for Rs.3000, each. Following was the final result:

Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) 6-4: 39/61, 37/64, 30/75, 68/14, 65/6, 13/93, 69/35, 62/61, 92/48, 71/38.