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| November 9, 2001 | Friday | Shaba’an 22, 1422 |
Seeded stars Saleh and Hussain in quarterfinals
KARACHI, Nov 8: The top two seeds Saleh Mohammad and Mohammad Hussain, both from the NWFP, booked their berths in the quarter-finals in the billiards event of the Second Red & White Billiard and Pool Championship, with victories at the Indus Snooker Club in Bahadurabad on Thursday.
While Pakistan’s top cueist Saleh had to fight hard in overcoming counterpart Shah Khan 4-0 after being extended in the opening and third frames, Mohammad Hussain also had to break into a sweat in overcoming Saqib Butt, the talented youngster from Lahore 4-2.
But Mohammad Hussain had the satisfaction of being the only player in the tournament potting all three balls on the table with one shot to gain 10 valuable points.
He first cannoned with the red and his opponent’s cue ball to get five points. Then potting red he inoffed of his opponent’s cue ball to gain a further five points. Mohammad Yousuf survived another close call when he came from behind to edge out Shakeel Bhatti 4-3.
After taking the opening frame, Shakeel dropped the next two but managed to level the frame scores 2-2, by winning the fifth 50/49. Pocketing the next frame also, Shakeel was soon ahead 3-2 and was actually leading 49/45, just a point away from victory in the vital sixth frame.
But the bearded cueist who had beaten Yousuf 7-2, earlier in the Pool round was indeed a bundle of nerves. He made a mess while trying to sink Yousuf’s cue ball and seizing the golden opportunity, Yousuf pouncing like a marauding hawk sunk the red then inoffed with his opponent’s cue ball to grab the frame 50/49 to get back on even terms at 3-3. Now moving into top gear, Yousuf raced ahead and won the final frame 51/7.
Also facing anxious moments was Pakistan’s top snooker star Khurram Hussain Agha, before scraping into the quarter-finals 4-3 against his talented opponent Salman Sheikh.
Salman who beat Khurram in the second round last year in the billiard tournament seemed to be on course of repeating that victory leading 3-1. With only one more frame to secure victory, Salman led Khurram 48/34, but was horrified when he missed two cannons that would have sealed victory for himself.
Khurram notched up the required 16 points to win the frame and claw his way closer 2-3. In another absorbing frame, Khurram managed to level the scores 3-3, pocketing the sixth 50/41 and finally booked his place in the quarter-finals by winning the final frame 52/26.
For Salman it was indeed a sad day. Earlier in the morning session he lost his Pool match to Khurram 7-3.
Two veterans Yousuf Haroon and Mohammad Aslam, fancied by many to reach the semi-final stage also booked their berths in the quarter-finals.
Yousuf Haroon overcame the fighting Arifullah 4-2, a semi-finalist last year, while Mohammad Aslam disposed of Minhas Malik by the same margin.
In Pool, Saleh Mohammad bowed out to Vishan Gir 7-3, but the young left-hander failed to reach the quarter-final round by going down 7-2 to Shahid Minhas.
Naveen Perwani was through to the last eight winning both his matches on Thursday. After overcoming Ahmed Bawany 7-4, Naveen beat Najmur Rehman by an identical margin.
Imran Shehzad, ranked fifth in the Pakistan snooker circles, also moved amongst the last eight by beating Nadeem Khalid 7-2. Another talented youngster from Lahore, Farhan Noor was also through after beating M. Asif Anwer 7-2. Also in the quarter-final round was Asif Moti, a 7-5 winner over Mohammad Hussain and Arifullah, who accounted for Zahid Junejo 7-3. Following are the pre-quarter results in billiards. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Shah Khan (NWFP) 4-0: 50/44, 50/18, 51/45, 50/9. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Salman Shaikh (Sindh) 4-3: 52/36, 37/52, 9/51, 31/51, 50/48, 40/41, 52/26. Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) beat Arifullah (NWFP) 4-2: 51/15, 47/50, 52/4, 50/18, 38/51, 51/24. Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-2: 42/50, 50/10, 33/52, 50/43, 50/46, 50/47. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 4-3: 39/51, 52/4, 50/35, 49/50, 18/52, 50/49, 51/7. Mohammad Aslam (Sindh) beat Minhas Malik (Sindh) 4-2: 50/30, 50/24, 13/50, 41/51, 50/8, 50/34.
Following Pool results.
Farhan Noor (Punjab) beat Saqib Butt (Punjab) 7-3. Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Qasim Kamani (Sindh) 7-4. Asif Moti (Sindh) beat Shehzad Naseem (Sindh) 7-5. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) beat Ahmed Bawany (Sindh) 7-4. Najmur Rehman (Sindh) beat S.A.R. Qadri (Sindh) 7-3. Vishan Gir (Sindh) beat Saleh Mohammad (Sindh) 7-3. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Anwar Saeed (Sindh) 7-4. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Aneel Bherwani (Sindh) 7-5. Imran Shehzad (Punjab beat Zulfiqar Butt (NWFP) 7-3. Khurram Agha (Sindh) beat M. Jamshed (Sindh) 7-1. M. Asif Anwar (NWFP) beat Asim Ghani (Sindh) 7-4. Zahid Junejo (Sindh) beat Mohammad Shahid (Punjab) 7-4. Nadeem Khalid (Punjab) beat Shoaib A. Khan (Sindh) 7-4. Salman Shaikh (Sindh) w/o Farukh Gani (Sindh). Shahid N. Minhas (Sindh) Umair Anwar (Sindh), Arifullah (NWFP) w/o Hassan Shuja (Punjab). Pre-Quarter-final results: Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Salman Shaikh (Sindh) 7-3. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) beat Najmur Rehman (Sindh) 7-4. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Nadeem Khalid (Punjab) 7-2. Farhan Noor (Punjab) beat M. Asif Anwer (Punjab) 7-2. Asif Moti (Sindh) beat Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) 7-5. Arifullah (NWFP) beat Zahid Junejo (Sindh) 7-3. Shahid N. Minhas (Sindh) beat Vishan Gir (Sindh) 7-2. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 7-2.
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