KARACHI, Feb 8: Top seed Amir Tariq recovered from two frames down to inflict a defeat on last year’s runner-up Mohammad Majid Ali in seven frames on way to making it to the final of the fifth national junior under-21 snooker championship at hotel Sheraton on Friday.
Amir meets Mohsin Ameen in the final slated for Saturday after the latter notched up 4-2 victory over former junior international Hamza Akbar in the other semi-final.
Punjab champion, Amir, who belongs to Faisalabad, was at the receiving end conceding opening two frames 8-54, 49-59, before making comeback to snatch 3-2 lead. He got his act together winning the next three frames 60-2, 87-6, 62-19. Again he faltered losing the sixth 0-77 only to win the seventh and decisive frame 67-38.
Meanwhile, unseeded Mohsin, who hails from Lahore, accounted for Hamza 52-40, 60-67, 55-25, 65-27, 16-58, 73-14 in contrasting way. Earlier, the former was stretched to full distance by Sindh’s Khizar Aziz before registering 4-3 victory in the quarter-final.
In the other three quarters, Amir carved out 4-1 victory over Zahid Ilyas, Hamza blanked M. Fahad Khan 4-0 while Majid worked hard to beat Amir Sohail 4-3.
Results: Quarter-finals: Mohsin Ameen (Punjab) bt Khizar Aziz (Sindh) 4-3 (63-24, 33-60, 60-68, 85-52, 32-69, 67-29, 64-33); Hamza Akber (Punjab) bt M. Fahad Khan (Sindh) 4-0 (83-0, 80-0, 127-0, 74-38); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Zahid Ilyas (Punjab) 4-1 (44-69, 66-38, 70-11, 79-24, 38-21); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3(43-93, 82-29, 29-59, 69-33, 48-61, 62-13, 64-34).
Semi-finals: Mohsin Ameen (Punjab) bt Hamza Akber (Punjab) 4-2 (52-40, 60-67, 55-25, 65-27, 16-58, 73-14); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-3 (8-54, 49-59, 60-2, 87-6, 62-19, 0-77, 67-38).
Saturday’s fixtures: Final Mohsin Ameen (Punjab) v Amir Tariq (Punjab) 12noon (best of 11 frames).
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