Young Pak cueist Ahsan crowned IBSF World Snooker champion

LAHORE - Pakistan’s 16-year-old Ahsan Ramzan has clinched the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World (Men) Snooker Championship 2022 trophy after beating Iran’s Amir Sarkosh in the final held at Doha, Qatar on Friday.
According to information made available here, Ahsan is the third Pakistani to win the world snooker championship as before him, Muhammad Asif won this prestigious title twice and Muhammad Yousaf once for Pakistan. Ahsan has also earned the honour of winning the world snooker championship as the third youngest cueist.
The young Pakistan snooker sensation faced tough resistance from other finalist – Amir Sarkosh from Iran – before winning the coveted trophy by 6-5. The score of the final was 63-60, 91-0(70), 56-34, 01-102(102), 28-68, 27-66, 86-18, 1-70, 69-0, 63-17, 67-25. Before winning the final, Ahsan had also struggle hard to beat defending champion Muhammad Asif in the semifinals. He beat snooker champion Muhammad Asif by 5-4 with the score being 63-71, 21-60, 76-50, 75-51, 64-65, 63-46, 39-68, 69-62, 62-60. In another semifinal, Pakistan’s Muhammad Sajjad was beaten by Iran’s Amir Sarkosh 5-4. The score was 64-32, 59-47, 77-25, 18-62, 103-14(102), 30-59, 09-75(62), 24-58, 66-01(64).
Another good news was that three out of four medals were already claimed by Pakistani cueists, when three finalists out of four were Pakistanis including Ahsan Ramzan, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Sajjad. With the title victory, Ahsan clinched the gold medal, while the silver was claimed by Iran’s Amir Sarkosh and bronze medals by Pakistan’s M Asif and M Sajjad.
Ahsan Ramzan, who has already won the U-16, U-17 and U-18 titles, was placed in Group C with Sri Lankan and Russian players. He earlier defeated all of them, clinching nine frames while losing only two. Ahsan left his education in Grade 8 and turned to professional snooker after the demise of his father three years ago. He already lost his mother at the tender age of four.
The new world champion – Ahsan – registered his name in the records of the game by becoming the youngest ever men’s finalist but was unlucky to create another history of winning all five national titles.
Meanwhile, snooker players from the South Asian country will now take part in the 37th Asian Championship that is set to start after the IBSF World Championships from March 12.

 

Azhar Khan is an accomplished senior sports journalist with extensive experience in the field. He can be reached at azharmasood786@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @azharmasood786

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