The victory gave Issara, a Chanthaburi native, a place among the Asian elites who have won the title on more than one occasions with his first triumph coming in the year 2006 in Sri Lanka.

It also means that Issara will be returning to the lucrative Main Tour, the top echelon of world professional snooker, when the new season gets underway in the United Kingdom in August this year. He will be joining two other Thais, Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm and 2009 world under-21 champion Noppon Saengkham, on the Tour.

A large number of local fans flooded the arena at the Maneechan Resort, clambered on top of anything they could find to get a view of the table and this only added to the pressure Issara had felt at the start of the match.

The match seemed to be evenly balanced for the first couple of hours as issara and Sajjad took turns to gain the upper hand, but only ended up tying the frame score at 3-3.

What really played in Issara's favour was that Sajjad only looked a pale shadow of the player who had gunned down big names throughout the event with the help of major breaks that also made him an awesome player to watch.

Sajjad's best of the day was a 51 point run in the sixth that earned him a 3-3 tie.

Issara was a player transformed from the seventh onwards as he rolled home a break of 81 in the eighth frame to go two in front. He followed it up another run of 80 in the next to further widen the gap to 6-3.

Issara was already on top with a comfortable lead of 60-1 and eyeing victory when he unleashed a fine clearance of 61 in the 10th and last frame. And the crowd erupted in a vehement joy as the last black disappeared in the top-right pocket and the hometown hero punched the air in triumph.

Issara said: "This is what I had been aiming for all this while. I had a forgettable season last year, but started spending more hours on the practice table since the start of the year.

"I was under a lot of pressure today, because I am eager to return to world professional circuit.

"I could have done better at the beginning and then I told myself: 'There are so many people at the venue and they are all here to see me

.' That changed everything." In the third place playoff in the morning, teenaged Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon let Indian veteran and two times former Asian champion Yasin Merchant have a first hand experience of his immense talent. The young Thai won the match 3-1 with ease.

A total of 39 players from 18 countries took part in the event. The next year's championship will be staged in India.

Frame scores

Final: Issara Kachaiwong (THA) beat Mohammad Sajjad (PAK) 7-3 (17-49, 78(78)-15, 65(56)-73, 94-40, 66-6, 43-64(51), 85-30, 81(81)-1, 123(80)-8, 120(61)-1)

Third place playoff: Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon (THA) beat Yasin Merchant (IND) 3-1 (0-88(53), 64-59, 106(106)-0, 77-36)