Thepchaiya stuns world champ to win seven-nation snooker title

Cool Thepchaiya Un-Nooh of Thailand stunned World Champion Hossein Vafaei Ayouri of Iran 7-6 in a 13 frame thriller to seize the title of Jubilee Insurance 7-nation International Snooker Championship at local hotel here on Friday. 17-year-old snooker sensation Ayouri was leading 6-4 after ten frames. But second seed Thepchaiya in a dramatic turnaround took the last three frames to win the title after marathon 252-minute final.
Demonstrating a fighting spirit, left handed Thepachaiya ended in a blaze of glory by constructing a brilliant clearance break of 92 in the final frame to earn handsome applause from the audience. Managing Directors Jubilee Insurance General and Life Tahir Ahmed and Javed Ahmed distributed the prizes.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh received the trophy and cash purse of $2000 while runner-up the trophy and $1000 in prize money. Pakistan's Muhammad Asif, who made the highest of break of 136 got special trophy and $100 cash award. President, Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Arif Hasan, Secretary Sindh Sports Shoaib Siddiqui, Shahid Ahmed and officials of PBSA Alamgir Shaikh, Jawed Karim were also present on the occasion.
Thai cueists got off to fine start by taking the first frame. But Hossein Vafaei came back in strong fashion pocketed the next three frames in row by masterly dipping the multi-coloured balls to gain 3-1 advantage. Thepachiya grabbed the fifth frame. But frame number six saw cautious play from both the players but eventually Thai also won it to restore the parity. After losing the 7th frame, Thepachiya struck a neatly compiled break of 71 to reduce his deficit. He grabbed the next frame to make it 4-5.