KARACHI: Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh fought tooth and nail before turning the tables on Thailand’s Boonyarit Kaettikun 7-6 in the epic final to reign supreme in the 11-nation Jubilee Insurance Asian 6-Reds Snooker Championship at Hotel Avari Towers here on Wednesday.

Amir, the last year’s losing finalist, recovered from 3-6 down to post a commendable victory and justify his credentials.

Final scores were 46-44, 12-46, 1-52, 33-0, 43-31, 1-54, 12-45, 0-66, 0-49, 46-0, 63-8, 37-32, 41-28.

In the run up to the final, Amir removed Hong Kong’s Au Chi Wai 6-1 in the pre quarters, Mohammad Sajjad 6-4 in the quarters and Hamza Akbar 6-5 in the semis. He was seeded seventh in the re-seeding.

On the other hand, un-seeded Boonyarit get past Afghanistan’s Saleh Mohammad 6-5 in the last-16 match, got the better of Ang Boon Chin of Singapore in the quarters by the identical score line and toppled top seed Hossein Vafaei 6-3 in the semi-final.

It is pertinent to mention that Iran has become a force to be reckoned with in the baize game in the recent past.This is evident from performances of their cueists in the lobal competitions.

Earlier, Thailand’s Boonyarit Kaettikun pulled off biggest upset when he sent top seed Hossein Vafaei Ayouri of Iran packing 6-3 in the semi-final to stay in contention for the crown.

He was home 13-37, 41-0, 56-14, 36-21, 40-19, 24-39, 33-17, 7-40, 35-25.

Recovering from a shaky start after losing the opener 13-37, he raced to win the next four frames in a row 41-0, 56-14, 36-21, 40-19 to earn 4-1 lead in the best of 11 frames battle.

Hossein, the reigning world under-21 champion who has earlier won the IBSF world snooker title at Bangalore in 2011, resisted by taking sixth and eighth frames but that could not make lasting impact as his opponent rounded off the match.

However, playing on the adjacent table, Hossein’s compatriot Amir Sarkhosh made his second final on trot imposing to 6-5 victory over former national champion Hamza Akbar that brought Pakistan’s onslaught to an end.

Amir, the losing finalist to Pakistan’s Asif at Qatar last year, became the first cueist in the ongoing event to make successive final.

Amir won the duel 39-0, 39-24, 42-15, 6-38, 7-46, 23-34, 42-0, 6-61, 60-6, 0-61, 71-0.

The match was played on even kneel with Amir taking 3-0 lead and Hamza levelling it 3-3. Again, Hamza recovered twice to draw level 4-4 an 5-5 after going down but Amir didn’t allow any room to his opponent building a solid break of 71 in the last frame to clinch the match.

Results:

Semi-finals: Amir Sarkhosh (Iran) bt Hamza Akbar (Pakistan) 6-5 (39-0, 39-24, 42-15, 6-38, 7-46, 23-34, 42-0, 6-61, 60-6, 0-61, 71-0); Boonyarit Kaettikun (Thailand) bt Hossien Vafaei Ayouri (Iran) 6-3 (13-37, 41-0, 56-14, 36-21, 40-19, 24-39, 33-17, 7-40, 35-25).

Final: Amir Sarkhosh (Iran) bt Boonyarit Kaettikun (Thailand) 7-6 (46-44, 12-46, 1-52, 33-0, 43-31, 1-54, 12-45, 0-66, 0-49, 46-0, 63-8, 37-32, 41-28).

Team event starts today

After failing to make its mark in the 6-Reds by surrendering the title, Pakistan look forward to making amends in the second Asian Team Event Snooker Championship which springs into action on Thursday.

Fifteen teams representing 11 nations are set to vie for honours in the event which concludes on Sunday.

Host Pakistan were allowed to field three teams, while defending champions India and Afghanistan will be represented by two teams apiece.

The teams have been drawn into four groups and top two from each will qualify for quarter-finals to be played on Friday. The semi-finals and final are slated for Sunday.

Hosts Pakistan have earlier announced four teams comprising two players apiece but the games regional body refused to allow under their bye-laws.

However, the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) had adjusted the players in three teams.

The PBSF president Alamgir Shaikh said that Asif and Sajjad were entitled for finishing runners-up in world team event at Egypt. Being the host, Pakistan was allowed to enter two teams.

Pakistan A: Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad.

Pakistan B: Imran Shehzad, Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Bilal.

Pakistan C: Asjad Iqbal, Shehram Changezi, Sohail Shehzad.

Groups:

A: India (A), Hong Kong, Afghanistan (B).

B: Iran, Singapore, Pakistan (C), India (B).

C: Afghanistan (A), Pakistan (B), Bahrain, Syria.

D: Qatar, Thailand, Pakistan (A), Palestine.

Thursday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Iran v India (B), Afghanistan (A) v Syria, Qatar v Palestine, Hong Kong v Afghanistan (B), Singapore v Pakistan (C), Pakistan (B) v Bahrain, Thailand v Pakistan (A).

At 4pm: India (A) v Afghanistan (B), Iran v Pakistan (C), Afghanistan (A) v Bahrain, Qatar v Pakistan (A), Singapore v India (B), Pakistan (B) v Syria, Thailand v Palestine.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2014