Pakistan's top cueist Asif aims to cement legacy with fourth world title

Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif etched his name in the record books by winning the 2024 IBSF World Men’s Snooker Championship, securing his third world title.

Asif is only the second player in history, after India’s Pankaj Advani, to clinch the prestigious title three times.

While speaking to Nukta in an exclusive interview, Asif said that aims to win another world title in the near future.

“I will try to win the title again in the next year or two and break the record. The preparation for the event in the training camp was very good. I used to practice for seven to eight hours every day. All the players worked hard and Allah rewarded us for it. I played a six-century breaks during the event as well,” Asif said.

“PBSA has given us full support and took the initiative to send me on a wild card. Chairman Alamgir Sheikh and President Javed Karim trusted me and I lived up to their expectations by becoming World Champion for the third time,” he added.

Apart from winning three individual IBSF world titles, Asif has also bagged two world team championship titles while also being the winner of the 2013 Asian 6 reds snooker championship.

However, despite his laurels, Asif says that transitioning from the amateur to the professional level is a difficult task for Pakistani cueists.

“You cannot play professional snooker unless you are financially stable. Expenses are high in the professional circuit. If funds are available you can participate in professional or else that is impossible. You need at least 70-80 million rupees annually but no player is strong enough to manage this for two years,” he said.

He also lamented the lack of academies and absence of government support in Pakistan for snooker.

“Most of the academies in Punjab are self-supporting and are in snooker clubs. There is no government patronage. As long as the government is not interested, there will be difficulties and obstacles in these things. Under the supervision of PBSA, one academy is established in Islamabad, the other academy is in Lahore but there is no academy in Karachi,” he said.

Relationship with Indian players

Asif also highlighted the cordial relations between Pakistani and Indian players on the snooker circuit.

“Meetings are held with Indian players on the occasion of World Championship and other events. We have a very good friendship with the Indian players but during a match we are only rivals. In the group stage, I had a match with Indian player Kamal Chawla in which I won by four frames against one,” he said.

“We keep inviting Indian players to come to Pakistan. But they say that our departure to Pakistan is subject to the permission of the government. If we want to go there, the visa is delayed, if Indians want to come here, there is a clearance problem. Hope that the tensions will be reduced so that it will be easier to get the visas,” he added.