Yan Bingtao showed maturity beyond his years to prevail over Pakistan’s Muhammad Sajjad in a tense IBSF World snooker championship final here on Saturday.
With Sajjad just one frame away from clinching the title, the 14-year-old Bingtao — who became the youngest ever world champion — realised that he was going nowhere with the safety battles that had dominated the majority of the match. The Chinese youngster decided to back his shot-making ability, and split the reds early in the final two frames. The move paid off, as Sajjad had no answer to the clean potting of Bingtao, and conceded the encounter at 8-7 after a solid 60-break in the decider.
Both players failed to showcase the big breaks, but the close nature of the match sustained a high degree of interest until the end.
Bingtao had initially fought his way to a 6-4 lead in the best-of-15 fixture, but Sajjad pulled a rabbit out of the hat to mount a comeback.
Staring down the barrel at 15-65 in the 11th frame, the Pakistani cueist was offered a tough chance after Bingtao missed a red. Sajjad needed a 50-clearance — with three reds on the table — to tie the frame and he did just that.
The 28-year-old first sunk the reds with the black, before moving the cue ball like a puppet on a string to pot the colours. With momentum on his side, the black ball playoff went Sajjad’s way.
Bingtao led in the next frame as well, but the teenager miscued on the rest to allow Sajjad onto the table. A neat 35-break was enough this time, and the finalists came to an even keel at 6-6. A 60 in the 13th brought Sajjad — the bronze medallist last year — within touching distance of the title, before Bingtao decided to do it his way.
“I was worried at 6-7 down, but I kept telling myself to hold it together,” Bingtao, who trains at the China Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) at Beijing, said. The Shandong-born player is keen to enter the professional tour as soon as possible.
In the women’s section, Belgium’s Wendy Jans took her third consecutive title with a 5-2 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Nechaeva.
The 31-year-old Jans, the only woman to have achieved this feat, stated that her semifinal win over two-time champion Ng On Yee gave her immense confidence ahead of the final. Phisit Chandsri of Thailand recorded a memorable 6-5 win over the in-form Darren Morgan — a former professional player — in the masters summit clash.
The result (finals): Men: Yan Bingtao (Chi) bt Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) 71-59, 16-81, 22-75, 67-53, 77-13, 4-93, 63-38, 0-86, 76-9, 70-37, 65-72, 38-76, 16-107, 72-21, 61-15.
Women: Wendy Jans (Bel) bt Anastasia Nechaeva (Rus) 31-76, 72-02, 25-65, 74-35, 72-32, 82-23, 60-31.
Masters: Phisit Chandsri (Tha) bt Darren Morgan (Wal) 67-59, 73-15, 25-64, 18-55, 16-71, 30-58, 81-29, 65-44, 57-28, 7-64, 72-34.
