KARACHI: Top cueist Shahid Aftab played brilliantly in the semifinal to knock out World Snooker Champion Muhammad Asif and advance to the final of the NBP 49th National Snooker Championship at the Snooker Arena of the National Bank Sports Complex.

Punjab’s Shahid Aftab will face National Bank’s Muhammad Sajjad in the final on Saturday (today), who secured his spot by defeating Asian Six Red Snooker Champion Awais Munair in the semifinal.

The first semifinal between National Bank’s Muhammad Sajjad and Punjab’s Owais Munir was a thrilling contest, with Muhammad Sajjad winning 6-5. The frame scores for his victory were 69-45, 21-107, 65-57, 76-30, 52-59, 0-85, 55-65, 88-0, 22-63, 61-46, and 78-35. Muhammad Sajjad also played breaks of 75 in the fourth frame and 70 in the eighth frame.

In the second semifinal, Punjab’s Shahid Aftab stunned World Champion Muhammad Asif of Punjab 6-3 to reach the final. After losing the first three frames. The frame scores of his victory were 61-68, 51-72, 23-102, 71-52, 72-51, 69-55, 76-13, 64-50, and 84-57 in his favor.

The best-of-13 final of the NBP 49th National Snooker Championship at the Snooker Arena of the National Bank Sports Complex will be played between Punjab’s Shahid Aftab and National Bank’s Muhammad Sajjad on Saturday (today).