India overcome Pakistan fightback

India overcame a gritty Pakistan fightback to win the 2005 Lawrencepur Snooker Challenge 39-38 but not before the event went to wire at the Karachi Club on Saturday.

Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf, in the last Lucky Seven singles against Manan Chandra, required a victory with a half century break to force a sudden-death.

But the 1993 world champion and 14-time former national champion could only manage a 64-41 victory.

Pakistan appeared dead and buried when they started the final day's play trailing 20-31 with a minimum of 17 points for grabs.

But they got a lifeline in the fourth match of the day when surprise package Imran Shahzad not only defeated Manan Chandra 20-58 73-20 114-10 but also conjured up the maiden century break of the series to reduce India's lead to 35-30.

Mohammad Yousuf, in the fifth match, then recovered to beat Asian Champion Alok Kumar 8-131 76-35 60-45 after the bespectacled Indian cueists had started briskly by notching up breaks of 74 and 57 in the first frame.

Yousuf replied with a break of 52 in the second frame as both the players contributed three points each to their teams cause.

Pakistan captain Naveen Perwani kept Pakistan's hopes alive when in the penultimate three-frame singles match he defeated Devendra Joshi 81-13 72-48 33-61 to further trim India's lead to 39-35.

In the final match of the tournament, Chandra played safe as he seemed determined not to allow Pakistan to stretch it to the sudden death.

Yousuf's over-ambitious approach also let him down when he struggled for cue ball control and missed a couple of opportunities to build up big breaks.

"I am happy for the way we fought back in the series. By all means, it was not a one-way traffic as it looked when play ended the other day," Pakistan captain Naveen Perwani said.

"I think the better team won but I am proud of the way we fought. Probably a little bit of luck and God knows what could have happened. But it was an interesting series," Perwani said.

Earlier, India started on a winning note when the combination of Joshi and world billiard champion Pankaj Advani defeated Yousuf and Imran Shahzad 59-58 on the black ball.

However, Saleh Mohammad's half century break in the second doubles match with Naveen against Alok and Manan restored the Pakistanis confidence.

Saleh's 60 break in the doubles match gave him the required impetus against former world champion Advani as he rolled over the youngster 103-22 0-90 and 77-34 that included a break of 79 in the first frame.

The Indian team had also won the series when it hosted last year.

Saturday's results:

Match 1 (doubles): Devendra Joshi/Pankaj Advani beat Imran Shahzad/Mohammad Yousuf 59-58. India 1 Pakistan 0

Match 2 (doubles): Saleh Mohammad/Naveen Perwani beat Alok Kumar/Manan Chandra 88 (60)-18. Pakistan 2 India 0

Match 3 (singles): Saleh Mohammad beat Pankaj Advani 103 (79)-22, 0-90 (51) 77-34. Pakistan 3 India 2

Match 4 (singles): Imran Shahzad beat Manan Chandra 20-58 73 (52)-20 114 (114)-10. Pakistan 5 India 1

Match 5 (singles): Mohammad Yousuf beat Alok Kumar 08-131 (74, 57) 76 (52)-35 60-45. Pakistan 3 India 3

Match 6 (singles): Naveen Perwani beat Devendra Joshi 81-13 72-48 33-61. Pakistan 2 India 1

Lucky Seven (singles): Mohammad Yousuf beat Manan Chandra 64-41. India 0 Pakistan 3

Result: India 39 beat Pakistan 38.