KARACHI, Aug 1: Top seed Khurram Hussain Agha, forced himself into the final of the 12th Red & White Cup Snooker Championship, when he accounted for sixth seed Imran Shehzad from Punjab 6-3, at the Snooker Area Club in Gizri on Friday.

He will be joined in Saturday’s final by seventh seed Farhan Mirza, who came from behind to topple fourth seed Naveen Perwani by an identical scoreline. In a jampacked snooker parlour Khurram began the proceedings comfortably, picking up the opening frame 69/28.

But Imran one of the most promising cueists on the snooker circuit hit back with vengeance, levelling the frame scores 1-1, winning the second 108/30 with fine breaks of 69 and 30.

Stung into action Khurram potting to perfection ran away with the next two frames to take a commanding 3-1 lead. Trailing by two frames, Imran refused to let the gloom settle in.

Excelling with long potting, sinking the balls from difficult angles, Imran pinched the next two frames to draw abreast 3-3.

In a hard fought encounter in the vital seventh frame, Khurram took the early lead. Scoring with every opportunity provided to him, Imran had the hall in pindrop silence levelling the frame score at 39-39, only to inoff with his cue ball.

Khurram also made an error on the brown ball and once again the scores were tied at 43-43, with the six coloured balls on the table. Khurram potted yellow, to move ahead 45-43, but grabbing the green and brown it was now Imran in the lead 50-43, with three coloureds left to pot.

After a few visits to the table Imran desperately needing to move ahead 4-3, sunk the blue ball and with pressure building to a climax, Imran missed a difficult pink, which would have won him the frame and put him ahead.

But it was not to be. Khurram potted pink closing the gap 49-55 and several minutes later with the two fighting hard for the vital black ball, Khurram potted a difficult black to win the frame 56/55 and surge ahead 4-3.

Gaining confidence Khurram raced further ahead 5-3, with a smooth 68/21 victory in the eighth and reserving his best for the last, he swooped in like a ravaging hawk, with a telling break of 106, his second in the tournament, to emerge a 6-3 winner.

On table No. 2, Naveen took the early lead picking up the first frame with utmost ease, only to see Farhan draw level 1-1, pocketing the second.

Once again with fluent potting, Naveen moved ahead 2-1, with a 70/21 success in the third frame. Farhan once again was breathing down Naveen’s neck, winning the fourth frame to level the scores 2-2, and then cashing in on a splendid break of 100 in the fifth, was in front for the first time in the match 3-2.

Keeping the scoreboard on the move with every visit to the table, Naveen was leading by 40 points 64/20, with one red and the coloured balls to play for.

Farhan had a steep mountain to climb. He needed six snookers and the remaining balls on the table to win the frame, an impossible task indeed. But Farhan bringing out all the tricks in the bag did the impossible.

Snookering Naveen five times and then earning a free ball, Farhan cleared the table and surprised all and sundry in the hall, perhaps himself, by snatching the sixth frame 68/64.

Disappointed but certainly not throwing in the towel as yet, Naveen came back strongly to draw closer 3-4, running away with the seventh frame 80/39.

Realising that his dangerous opponent was catching up fast, Farhan began the eighth frame with a quick break of 45 which helped him on to a winning 5-3 lead, when Naveen surrendered the frame with three red and the coloured balls still on the table.

Continuing where he left off in the eighth, Farhan continued to move on smoothly, winning the frame and match also by a 6-3 margin.

Saturday’s match promises to be an exciting affair with two of Pakistan’s top cueists in action. Although Khurram has met Farhan several times in the ranking tournaments in the past, he has never beaten the bespectacled cueist to date.

The last time these two met were last year in the Red & White Snooker Classic played at the Karachi Gymkhana, where Farhan emerged a 6-3 winner.

Both cueists seem to be in good nick. Khurram has sounded breaks of 122, 106 and 82 on his way to the final. On the other hand Farhan has replied back with 100 in yesterday’s semi-final and 92 in his second match during the qualifying rounds.

All said and done, an exciting afternoon of snooker awaits the snooker fans on Saturday.

The the best-of-11 frames final will commence at 1.00pm.

Following were the semi-final results:

Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 6-3: 69/28, 30/108, 66/48, 83/34, 36/60, 42/45, 56/55, 68/21, 116/6.

Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 6-3: 16/87, 69/34, 21/70, 65/28, 112/1, 68/64, 39/80, 53/2, 79/14.