ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Naseem Akhtar won the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) Under-18 Snooker World Championship after beating China’s Peifan Lei in Beijing, China on Tuesday. According to a spokesman for the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) spokesman, Akhtar won five frames against Lei’s three in the best-of-9-frame contest although the Chinese cueist had taken an early 3-1 lead in the game. Expressing pleasure at his big win, Akhtar thanked the PBSA for their support and Pakistani people for their prayers in a video message. “I want to tell the people of Pakistan that snooker is a sport that needs your support. I hope my win can send out a message to the government and to the people that as a kid it is not a bad thing to play snooker. I want to dedicate this win to my country and to my parents for letting me chase my dream. It is because of this that I’ve now become the first person to win a junior world championship. I hope this will open doors for others too.” Akhtar is the first Pakistan cueist to win a junior title. He earlier triumphed 4-0 against Israel’s Amir Nardeia to reach the finals. The final, like the rest of Akhtar’s journey, was a battle as he lost the opening frame to Lei 20-62 before levelling the tie with a 69-68 triumph. He then dropped two more frames 37-71, 19-57 to trail by a 3-1 deficit. Akhtar, however, found his game in the fifth frame, winning 127-6 before following it up with 85-40, 61-37, 74-8 wins in the next three frames to seal the world championship. “It was a tough match but I told myself ‘I can’t give up’ even when I was down three frames,” recalled Akhtar. “This win means a lot because I know I fought the entire tournament.” The PBSA also has heaped praise on Akhtar for his incredible, come-from-behind win in the final. “He just outperformed everyone and exceeded our expectations,” said the spokesman. “Pakistani youth has never played this way at world junior championships before. This only shows there is hope and we need to keep working on our players because they have the potential,” the spokesman added. Akhtar and compatriot Haris Tahir will now begin their campaign at the IBSAF Under-21 Championship on Wednesday (today). Published in Daily Times, July 12th , 2017.