Asjad, Awais Ullah to play snooker final

By our correspondent
KARACHI: Pakistan’s experienced pro Asjad Iqbal of National Bank and third seed Awais Ullah Munir of Punjab blasted their way into the final of the 48th NBP National Snooker Championship being held at the NBP Sports Complex Karachi snooker arena on Monday.
Asjad, also a 2019 Doha World Cup winner, downed Mohammad Naseem Akhtar of Punjab in the semi-final while Awais Ullah Munir conquered Sohail Shehzad of Sindh in the other semi-final.
The final between the two will be held on Tuesday (today).
As both the finalists are yet to win national title, so a new champion is set to be crowned.
Asjad, also runner-up of the 2017 World Team Championship, has to his credit a handful of national ranking events. He also remained runner-up of the national event once.
The first semi-final between Asjad of NBP and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar of Punjab was one sided as the former secured a facile 6-1 victory.
Sargodha-born Asjad took a bright start when he lifted the first frame 63-39. However, Naseem brought parity when he lifted the second frame 67-50 to make it 1-1. And it proved to be a wake-up call for Asjad who extended what he had and went on to win the next five frames to seal a big win.
The frames score was 63-39, 50-67, 65-39, 79-0, 98-0(98), 74-63, 108-0(108). His superb show also was embellished with a break of 108 in the seventh frame.
Meanwhile Awais Ullah Munir of Punjab downed Sohail Shehzad of Sindh 6-2 to set final date with Asjad. It was Awais Ullah’s day as he played with great command, demonstrated super potting ability to notch an easy win. The frames score was 1-0, 89-17, 64-49(52), 25-79(79), 16-62, 71-64, 64-59, 73-25.
This is the first time that Aais Ullah Munir will be playing the final.
In the quarter-finals on Sunday Asjad had defeated former national champion Shahid Aftab of Punjab 5-4 while Awais Ullah Munir of Punjab had downed Abdul Javed of Islamabad 5-4.
The winner of the event will be handed over a purse of Rs200,000 with the runner-up to go away with Rs100,000. The semi-finals losers will claim Rs50,000 each. The four cueists, who have lost in the quarter-finals, will get Rs10,000 each. Similarly, Rs25,000 each will be handed over to those who have managed breaks of 100 and above.
For every maximum break of 147, Rs50,000 will be awarded while for every century break Rs2000 will be awarded as an additional money.