By Ubaid Awan
KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) December 2, 2012: Pakistan’s top cueist Mohammad Asif put on exhibition his sheer class and snooker skills on Saturday to storm his way into final of the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2012 in Bulgarian city called Sofia.
Mohammad Asif raced to victory by 7-1 as he crushed his opponent Alex Borg of Malta to keep his unbeaten run by recording ninth straight victory in the championship.
With this victory, Mohammad Asif became only the third Pakistani to qualify into IBSF World Snooker Championship.
Pakistan’s best ever cueist Mohammad Yousaf and Saleh Muhammad achieved the feat in 1994 and 2003 with Mohammad Yousaf going on to win the title. Muhammad Yousaf is the only Pakistani player to have won IBSF World Amateur and World Masters Snooker Championship titles.
Mohammad Asif will play either Gary Wilson or Noppon Saengkham who were fighting for the second berth in the final of the World Snooker Championship 2012.
The Lady Luck continued smiling on Mohammad Asif at the event as on late Friday he defeated Omar Alkojah of Syria by 6-2 to record an easy victory in the quarterfinal.
Taking a look at the rich snooker history of Pakistan, there are a number of players who waved Pakistani flag in the snooker arenas across the world.
In 1998 Asian Games, Shaukat Ali, who is now playing professional snooker, won Gold Medal for Pakistan in Asian Games Snooker event.
In Asian Games 2010, Pakistan Snooker Team comprising Imran Shehzad, Sohail Shehzad and Shehram Changezi won the Bronze medal.
In 2002 Asian Games, Pakistan won two bronze medals (in Snooker teams and men's doubles event), thanks to Mohammad Yousaf, Saleh Muhammad and Naveen Perwani.
In history of Asian Snooker Championship, Mohammad Yousaf won the title in 1998 while Farhan Mirza and Muhammad Sajjad played final in 1999 and 2010, respectively.
Talking to the local media after his victory in the semifinal match, Mohammad Asif said, "I will try my best to win the title for Pakistan. I'm very confident of winning the final, I appeal to the nation to pray for me”.
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