Yasin Merchant lost to his apprentice Faisal Khan: 2012 Islam Gymkhana-BSAM Open Snooker tournament

Veteran potter of India, Yasin Merchant, lost to his own apprentice, Railway’s Faisal Khan after a close encounter at the Islam Gymkhana by the score line of 5-4. The final match of the 2012 Islam Gymkhana-BSAM Open Snooker tournament slid into the decisive frame where Khan overcame his teacher to lift the title.

The pair started brilliantly in the tournament and hit the final spot after producing some of the most outstanding performances in their campaigns. The best-of-nine frame final clash was yet another display of tussling game and terrific potting because both Merchant and Khan knew the snooker skills of each other and had the idea to cope with that.

Khan produced a superb snooker display from the start and cruised into 4-0 lead in no time. He pocketed some classy snooker shots to nudge his veteran opponent by 4-0 after compiling four frame wins by the scores of 118-16, 66-29, 69-6 and 73-42.

The coach, Merchant, followed him at the beginning of second session and managed well. He replied with four sensational frame wins by 0-68, 46-65, 13-69 and 48-62 to pull level at 4-4 and drag the match into the decider frame where Khan was victorious by a close score line of 71-53.

Merchant spoke to the media, “Faisal was a deserving victor. He was aggressive, positive, confident and completely comfortable. I managed to force the decider because pressure gets the best out of me.”

On the other hand, Khan said, “It’s not very often that one enjoys a 4-0 lead against a player like Yasin sir. He showed his class by stretching the match into the decider by punishing me each time I made a mistake. His quick breaks put me under pressure. But I was striking the balls well and chose to play my natural game.”

Both Merchant and Khan were together in Pakistan where they recently participated in the 2012 Seven-Nation International Snooker Championship at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan. However, the pair was not able to reach the finals of the event but they received a lot of support from Pakistani snooker fans. Only Merchant managed to make it to the quarters but lost there.

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Posted by Zeeshan Gohar on Mar 26 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.