Pakistan’s Naseem Akhtar wins IBSF World U-18 Snooker Championship

BEIJING: Pakistan cueist Mohammad Naseem Akhtar has won the third International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World U18 Snooker Championship in Beijing, China.

The 16-year-old defeated China’s Peifan Lei in the final on Tuesday by five frames against three after initially struggling and later went on to win 20-62(50), 69-68, 37-71, 19-57, 127-06(56), 85-40, 61-37, 74-08.

Naseem has become the first ever Pakistani to win a junior world title in snooker. The event was contested by 48 cueists from 29 countries.

In the semi-final, Nassem had defeated Israel’s Amir Nardela 4-0 with scores of 74-19 (69), 82-0(64), 90-21, 89-42. Lie had defeated Junjie Bo 4-2 with scores of 70-42, 29-57, 23-72(53), 43-40, 76-13(56), 65-50.

Earlier Naseem defeated Florian Nuble of Austria 4-1 in the quarter-finals with frame scores of 62-67, 74-7, 86-29, 74-8, 72-21,

Akhtar expressed pleasure for the win and for bringing glory to the nation. He thanked the snooker association for their support and training and the people for their prayers.

Pakistan had fielded two cueists in the event. The other player Haris Tahir lost to his team mate in the round of 16.

Both cueists will now represent the country in the U21 Championship which starts at the same venue on Wednesday.