Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif on Saturday won the IBSF World Snooker Championship (amateur), beating Jefrey Roda of Philippines 8-5 in the final.
It was Asif’s second IBSF World title, having triumphed in the same competition in 2012 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf had also won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in 2012.
Asif won the first three frames to take an early 3-0 lead with frame scores of 68-35, 88-00 and 69-1. Roda tried staging a comeback but couldn’t erase Asif’s lead.
Asif played a break of 105 in the fifth frame to minimise his deficit to 3-2, only to get it increased before the break as he made it 5-2 by the seventh frame. The Pakistani continued his form post-break to take it to 6-2.
Roda played a break of 71 in the ninth frame, but Asif responded well in the 10th to keep his lead.
With the Pakistani cueist just one frame away from his title, Roda gave Asif a scare and broke his momentum by winning back-to-back frames, making it 7-5.
But the 13th frame ended up being the decisive one. Roda conceded the game with pink and black balls remaining on the table and Asif keeping a lead of 17 points.
Asif capped the best-of-15 frames win 8-5 in less than five hours with scores of 68-35, 88-0, 69-17, 28-73, 5-118, 93-0, 69-1, 72-57, 10-93, 77-04, 21-65, 54-66 and 68-51.
In a message sent to the media following his win, Asif said that he was dedicating this win to the people of Pakistan and the people of Kashmir.
“This wasn’t an easy tournament for me, but I was focused to win for my country,” he said.
