Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan with other podium winners and officials during the presentation ceremony, yesterday.
Doha: Pakistan’s teenage sensation Ahsan Ramzan yesterday created history as the 16-year-old cueist became the youngest IBSF world champion after beating Iran’s Amir Sarkosh in the final in Doha.
In a thrilling final which took place at the Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation’s hall, Ramzan - who was seeded 27th in the tournament - edged past the experienced Sarkosh 6-5 with scores of 63-60, 91-0(70), 56-34, 01-102(102), 28-68, 27-66, 86-18, 1-70, 69-0, 63-17, 67-25.
Ramzan had earlier in the semi-finals defeated compatriot and defending champion Mohamed Asif.
IBSF world champion Ahsan Ramzan of Pakistan celebrates with the trophy.
In yesterday's final, Ramzan started by pulling the first frame by 3 points. He then enhanced the lead with a break of 70 points to take a 2-0 lead. The experienced Sarkosh cut the deficit by winning the third frame and then crafted a century break of 102 points to level the match again. The Iranian didn’t stop there and won the next two frames too to take a 4-2 lead. After losing one frame, Amir came close to victory by winning the 8th frame to lead 5-3.
From there onwards, Ramzan went on for his flawless game and continued on the scoring tactics to take away two more frames to set the decider. In the decider, Ramzan chose each and every shot very cautiously and executed them with 100% precision. Though Sarkosh tried and succeeded to place two snookers, but on the next opening, Ramzan potted the green and other colour balls to become the World Champion.
Later, the IBSF Vice President Jim Leacy extended an invitation to both the finalists for the World Games 2022 to be held in Birmingham, USA.
Ramzan dedicated his triumph to Pakistani people.
“Thanks to Almighty Allah for letting me win the world championship at the age of 16. This victory is dedicated to all Pakistanis out there,” the young cueist said.
“After beating Asif in the semi-final, I was pretty confident to win the championship. I would also like to thank my friends, my club, snooker federation and my family for their support. Without their support, this title wasn’t possible,” he added.
