Unheralded Muhammad Shahid of Punjab won the 36th NJI National Snooker Championship in style when he handed out an 8-2 drubbing to top seed Imran Shehzad in the final at Karachi Gymkhana Billiards Hall here on Thursday. Lahore-based Imran Shehzad, who had reached the final in a dominating fashion, struggled against Shahid, who toppled Sultan Muhammad of Sindh in the semi-final.
28-year-old from Faisalabad, Shahid recovered after dropping the opening frame to topple Imran 44-90, 97-04, 70-07, 82-01, 86-0, 80-32, 40-78, 81-42, 66-24, 67 -44. Highly talented, Shahid after dropping frame, made a brilliant break of 97 to level the terms and compiled the breaks of 61, 86, 80 and 65 during around four hours' encounter.
It was a stunning blow for Imran, who had represented Pakistan in last year's IBSF World Snooker Championship in Damascus (Syria). Spirited Shahid, who was featuring in his first ranking event, by virtue of winning the national crown, earned the right to represent Pakistan in Asian Snooker Championship scheduled to be held in Indore (India) in April.
Muhammad Shahid received the glittering trophy and cash prize of Rs 60,000 while runner-up Imran Shehzad got Rs 35,000/-. Highest break prize was equally distributed between Sohail Shehzad and Mohammad Shahid as both of them played a break of 97 points.
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