Muhammad Naseem Akhtar has been crowned IBSF World U-18 Champion in Beijing on Tuesday. The 16-year-old wins the third instalment of the tournament, which has so far seen a player from China and a talented Welsh youngster win the event.
Akhtar beat the Chinese player Peifan Lei 5 - 3 in an enthralling final in the Chinese capital and the win opens up the potential for the player to head to Ponds Forge next year to play in the World Championship qualifiers.
Last year's winner Jackson Page, touted as a star of the future from the UK country of Wales, was knocked out in the earlier rounds.
pakistan and the country India, which has the likes of amateur Pankaj Advani (pictured) are certainly seeing an increase in popularity of the game, as the World Snooker tour stops in India again this season. Last season's Indian Open was won by Anthony McGill, who won his maiden ranking title.
On the amateur scene, attention focuses now on the World U-21 category, which has seen previous winners such as the World famous Ronnie O'Sullivan and the winner of that event will be given a two-year tour card for the main tour. Naseem was 3 - 1 down at one point - but held his nerve to come back and win 5 - 3 in the best of nine frames.
Previously the Chinese have dominated in this event with two Chinese players in the final in 2015.
Ka Wai Cheung took the title in the first edition.
U-21 history
The last time the World U-21 was held in China in Beijing, was back in 2013, where Lu Ning beat the former world cup team winner Zhou Yuelong. China has hosted the U-21 category three times in its history since it began in 1987.
Wuxi was host to the amateur events the year before it went to the Chinese capital.
Wuxi is, of course, the hometown of the Chinese Dragon Ding Junhui, who last weekend lifted their second World Cup title win with Liang Wenbo beating England in the final. Ding is a previous winner of the U-21 category winning the event in Riga in 2002.
He then went on to win his ranking title in 2005 at the China Open beating the seven times World Champion Stephen Hendry.
Last year in Mol, Belgium, in which the country will be hosting the European Masters on the main pro tour, the winner of the U-21 event was Xu Si, now on tour in his second season as a pro of a two-year card.
Women's U-18
Thailand's Nutcharat Wangharuthai scooped the Women's U-18 crown defeating her compatriot Siripaporn Nuathakhamjan in the final 3 - 2 in a deciding frame showdown in China.
The U-21 event runs from the 12th and ends on the 16th July in China.
