Shahid took five hours to create the biggest upset of the National Snooker Championship. -File Photo

KARACHI: Mohammad Shahid, a qualifier from Punjab, entered his name in the annals of the game when he won national snooker title with a thumping 8-2 victory over Pakistan No 1 Imran Shahzad at Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.

Shahid, a native of Faisalabad, took five hours to create the biggest upset of the 36th NJI National Snooker Championship imposing a 44-90, 97-4, 70-7, 82-1, 86-0, 80-32, 40-78, 81-42, 66-24, 67-44 victory to the delight of fraternity of the game.

He is perhaps the second qualifier after Mohammad Sajjad to win the prestigious national title since its inception. The latter had won the national crown in the same fashion in 2008.

This is the third time that national title has eluded Shahzad in the last seven years the previous two occasions being 2004 and 2005 where he lost the title battle.

Fresh from his 6-3 triumph over Sultan Mohammad in the pre-final the other day, the 29-year-old Shahid overcame a jittery start to earn a commendable 5-1 lead in the best of 15 frames final.

Struggling to come out of hot waters, Shahzad, managed to reduce the deficit 2-5 taking the seventh frame but that proved to be last laugh as Shahid pocketed the next three in a row to wrap up the match.

Shahid’s domination can be gauged from the fact that he compiled five elegant breaks of 97, 61, 86, 61, 65 in the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and tenth frames respectively.

The triumph earned the eventual champion a winning purse of Rs60,000 while the losing finalist received runner-up prize of Rs35,000 from Tahir Ahmed, Managing Director of NJI, after the final.

The PBSA officials, Alamgir Shaikh and Munawwar Hussain Shaikh together with president Karachi Gymkhana, Ali Rahim, were also present.

Meanwhile, the performance of players remained pathetic as far as performing century break in the event was concerned. Sohail Shahzad and Mohammad Shahid shared the highest break prize money for scoring breaks of 97 apiece.

Result:

Final: Mohammad Shahid (Punjab) bt Imran Shahzad (Punjab) 8-2 (44-90, 97-4, 70-7, 82-1, 86-0, 80-32, 40-78, 81-42, 66-24, 67-44).