KARACHI: In a epic semi-final, unseeded Mohammad Ijaz sprung a big surprise when he toppled top seed and reigning national champion Mohammad Asif 6-5 to reach the maiden ranking final of his career in the 10th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex on Sunday.

Ijaz is slated to take on third seed Babar Masih in the title clash on Monday after the latter also fought gallantly to register a scintillating 6-3 victory over fourth seed Mohammad Majid Ali in the second semi-final.

Ijaz, younger brother of three-time national champion Mohammad Sajjad, has finally come out of the latter’s shadow following a see-saw battle that lasted for five hours.

By winning the semi-final, the Sargodha-born Ijaz has made amends of his last year’s 5-6 semis defeat in similar fashion that he had suffered at the hands of eventual champion Asjad Iqbal in the same event.

Ijaz, who got the better of Mohammad Asif Toba 5-1 in the pre quarter-final and blanked Aakash Rafique 5-0 in the semi-final, got off to a brisk start taking the first two frames 65-42 and 71-0. He conceded the third 32-74 that saw a solid break of 71 by Asif only to bounce back and surge 4-1 up winning the next two frames in a row 80-32, 53-43.

Needing only two frames to win, Ijaz was caught on the wrong foot losing three frames 34-66, 53-65 and 16-87 as experienced Asif drew level at four-all.

Ijaz went 5-4 up taking the ninth frame 74-29 only to lose the 10th 40-70 before pocketing the decisive 11th frame 64-33 to cross yet another hurdle.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi-based Babar shrugged off the challenge from promising Majid following some early hiccups. He won the duel 68-39, 72-37, 61-72, 58-35, 8-97, 49-51, 71-8, 63-53, 80-43.

Babar enjoyed 2-1 and 3-1 leads before the former Asian junior runner-up Majid recovered and levelled the score 3-3. Experience finally prevailed as Babar rounded off the match winning the next three frames in a row.

Babar already boasts one ranking title in his bag that he won in 2016.

Results:

Semi-finals:

Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 6-5 (65-42, 71-0, 32-74, 80-32, 53-43, 34-66, 53-65, 16-87, 74-29, 40-70, 64-33); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 6-3 (68-39, 72-37, 61-72, 58-35, 8-97, 49-51, 71-8, 63-53, 80-43).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am (Best of 15 frames)

Final: Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) v Babar Masih (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018