Cueist Asif wins Pakistan's snooker ranking championship

The 4th Pakistan's Snooker Cup Ranking Tournament 2012 concluded on Saturday as the country's number one Muhammad Asif lifted the trophy at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Sports Complex in the southern port city of Karachi, local media reported Sunday. Asif thrashed second-ranked Asjad Iqbal in the one-sided 13-frame final with a margin of 7-1. Before the start of the event last week, sports analysts predicted that Iqbal would dominate the event as he had captured back-to-back titles of the domestic circuit of the country but experienced Asif gave him a tough time before routing him in the final. Iqbal, 20, jumped 14 places in his ranking in one year time after getting a month long coaching course at Bangkok. By winning the event, Asif, Pakistan's two-time national champion and title holder, maintained his top position in the national ranking followed by Iqbal. Earlier on Friday, seasoned international player Asif faced a tough challenge from Sohail Shahzad in the semifinal before achieving the 6-4 victory. While in the other semifinal, Iqbal displayed spectacular potting and positional play to axed Shahram Changezi in six straight frames 6-0. The top 24 players of the country participated in the event and were divided equally into four groups where each of them played five round-robin matches to qualify for the quarterfinal stage. According to the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA), both finalists, Iqbal and Asif, automatically qualified to represent the country in the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2012, scheduled to be held in November in Bulgaria. Asif was awarded with the winner trophy along with the 745 U.S. dollars while the runner-up Iqbal received a cash prize of 425 U.S. dollars. Snooker is a widely played indoor game in Pakistan. A Pakistani snooker player "Mohammad Yousuf" won the World Championship title in 1994 and Asian Snooker Championship in 1998 but he failed to show any impressive game in the ranking championship.