KARACHI: Imran Shahzad, the country’s top cueist, maintained his ascendancy when he came out of the jaws of defeat to inflict 8-7 defeat on M. Asif Toba in the all-Punjab final to land the third ranking snooker title at Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

The 36-year-old Imran was in hot waters as he trailed 2-5, 3-6 and 5-7 before staging a remarkable comeback to turn the tables on his opponent 1-70, 78-21, 119-0, 47-60, 40-88, 13-85, 25-58, 68-14, 25-96, 89-19, 87-18, 29-72, 92-0, 65-13, 115-25 in the best of 15 frames epic final.

The Pakistan No 1 had a run of mixed fortunes in the week long event. After finishing runner-up to outsider Farrukh Usman in group A, he whipped Mohammad Asif 5-1 in pre quarter-final, 5-3 Abdul Sattar in quarter-final and 6-3 Shahid Aftab in thesemi-final.

“I am thankful to Allah who bestowed upon me yet another honour as I had entered the event with grim chances due to dengue epidemic,” the Lahore-based cueist told Dawn after the victory.

He said: “I’m much relaxed now and will concentrate to regain fitness prior to entering Del Monte Cup, the fourth ranking event, which starts here from Nov 14”.

It is pertinent to mention that Imran had already qualified for the next month’s world snooker championship which is being held at Bangalore from Nov 27 to Dec 3.

Imran had seized the lead in the final once when he was 2-1 up after losing the opener 1-70. He grabbed the second frame 78-21 and the third 119-0 with a break of 119, his second century break of the event. In fact, he missed a clearance of 144 byfailing to pot the green ball.

He was at the receiving end losing four successive frames 47-60, 40-88, 13-85, 25-58 to trail 2-5 in the final.

He then reduced the deficit 3-5 taking the eighth frame 68-14 before losing the ninth 25-96 to trail 3-6. Imran picked up the next two frames 89-19 and 87-18 before again losing 29-72 to fell 5-7.

However, despite trailing 5-7, he did not lose heart and kept his patience to win the last three in one hand 92-0, 65-13 and 115-25 to emerge victorious.

Imran earned a winning purse of Rs60,000 while Asif Toba got the runner-up prize of Rs35,000 from the chief guest, Mr Tahir Ahmed. President of the PBSA, Alamgir Shaikh, was also present.

Results:Final: Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt M. Asif Toba (Punjab) 8-7. (1-70, 78-21, 119-0, 47-60, 40-88, 13-85, 25-58, 68-14, 25-96, 89-19, 87-18, 29-72, 92-0, 65-13, 115-25).