Ahsan brushes aside Hamza to win U-17 National title

LAHORE: Ahsan Ramzan displayed an excellent show of power to claim first SGL Under-17 National Snooker Championship title with a crushing 5-2 victory over Hamza Ilyas 5-2 in an all-Punjab final at the Pakistan Sports Board Coaching and Training Centre here on Tuesday.

Ahsan also qualified for the World Under-17 Championship at Qatar in December after clinching the best-of-nine decider with a scoreline of 111-16, 19-64, 77-32, 62-29, 14-64, 66-26, 69-8. He left no room for Hamza in the opening frame by sealing it at 111-16.

Hamza staged partial recovery by taking the second frame at 64-19 before Ahsan went into a 3-1 lead by winning the next two frames 77-32, 69-29. Hamza won the fifth frame 64-14 to cut Ahsan’s advantage.

The promise of a engrossing final evaporated gradually as Ahsan cruised quite easily to grab the title by clinching the sixth and seventh frames at 66-26 and 69-8.

The inaugural event at the newly-built snooker academy saw Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan field their respective top four seeds with Punjab dominating by sealing all the semi-final spots.