KARACHI, Jan 25: Faisal Essa, made a triumphant entry into the Red & White National tournament, when he swept aside Balochistan’s Abdul Rehman 3-1, in the Pre-Nationals played Friday at the Indus Snooker Club.

Winning his third match on the trot, the young cueist qualifying from the Sindh Cup, also came through with flying colours in the pre- nationals. Faisal was joined by former Internationals Vishan Gir and Aneel Bherwani, who accounted for Raja Rasheed 3-2 and Mohammad Shahid Ali (Punjab) 3-0 respectively.

Faisal was later joined by Punjab’s Mohammad Nazir, who beat counterpart Tahir Rasheed 3-1. Faisal with a +6 frame advantage will now take on Nazir +4 in the final match to see who tops Group G.

Later in the evening Irfan Rasheed Khan from Group B also made it through with a 3-1 victory over Fahad Asif. A chance for the second berth in this group is between Punjab’s Fahad Asif +2 and Balochistan’s Manzoor Ahmed +1 in their final match on Saturday.

Although leading 2-0 in his final pool match, Farhan Noor, who had already qualified from Group A Thursday, went down 2-4 to Balochistan’s Amanullah. This win however could not see Amanullah through to the Nationals.

Aamir Sikander beat Amanullah 3-1 earlier and Mohammad Akhlas, accounting for Noman Shah by the same margin, are in the running for the second berth. Although Aamir has a +4 frame advantage to Akhlas’+1, the winner of this final clash in Group A will go through to the final round.

Mustafa Hyder swept past Farhan Nasar 3-0 to top Group D and was later joined by Danish Haroon, who made a late rally by beating experienced Yousuf Haroon 3-2 and then Mohammad Jamil 3-0.

Ahmer Sheikh beat Atif Ayub 3-1 and qualified from Group E and will most probably be joined by Hassan Shuja, who lost his third match against Mehmood Khan 2-3, after winning his first two.

Group F is an open affair with three players Aamir Samdani who beat Qaiser Khan 3-2, A. Qadeer Butt, who received a walk over against Shoaib Qadir and Mohammad Siddiq, vying for the two top places.

The former Sindh Cup champion M. Shadab Baig ended the chances of Farhan Idrees with a 3-2 triumph and was joined in the final rounds by Kamran Shah from Group H, who beat Kashif Zubair 3-1. Both players meet on Saturday morning to decide the winner of this group.

Kasif Khan with his third straight win, this time against Mohammad Ali Changezi 3-1, will be joined by Ahmed Bawany, a 3-0 winner over Wajid Khan in Group I.

In Group J, Aneel Bherwani was joined by Inam-ur-Rehman, who beat Yasir Aziz 3-1.

In Group K, Salman Sheikh a 3-1 winner over Raji Amir Suhail 3-1, Nadir Khan a 3-0 victor over Turyali and Raji Amir Suhail are all three vying for the two berths that is up for grabs.

International Abu Saim winning his first two matches confidently, was trounced 3-0 by Mohammad Amin. With Raees Khan beating Mohammad Hussain Chengazi 3-1, the door is wide open in Group L.

Group M is also wide open with four players Shah Khan, Masood Ahmed, Saim Aftab and Humayum Khurshid all depending on the results of their final rounds on Saturday.

Rambel Gul beat Baber Qayyum 3-1 and Khurram Khan with a 3-2 triumph over Sunny Shahani, made it through from Group N with three victories apiece.

Results:

Aamir Sikander bt Amanullah 3-1: Zahid mehmood bt M. Alam 3-0. Vishan Gir bt Raja Rasheed 3-2. Danish Haroon bt Yousuf Haroon 3-2. Mehmood Khan bt Hassan Shuja 3-2. Aamir Samdani beat Qaisar Khan 3-2. Mohammad Nazir bt Tahir Rasheed 3-1. Shadab Baig bt Farhan Idrees 3-2. Kashif Khan bt Mohammad Ali Changezi 3-1. Inam-ur-Rehman bt Yasir Aziz 3-1. Salman Sheikh bt Raji Ahmed Suhail 3-1. Mohammad Amin bt Abu Saim 3-0. Shah Khan bt. Sultan Ali Changezi 3-0. Rambel Gul bt Babar Qayyum 3-1. Azim Akhtar beat Shakir Rafiq 3-1. Atif Mughal bt Mohammad Aslam 3-2. Mohammad Akhlas bt Noman Shah 3-1. Ifran Rashid Khan bt Fahad Asif 3-1. Asad Azim bt Ishtiaq Hussain 3-0. Mustafa Hyder bt Farhan Nasar 3-0. Aamir Sheikh bt Atif Ayub 3-1. Qadeer Butt w/o Shaoib Qadir. Arshad Siddiq bt Abdul Rehman 3-1. Kamran Shah bt Kashif Zubair 3-1. Ahmed Bawany bt Wajid Khan 3-0. Aneel Bherwani bt Mohammad Shahid Ali 3-0. Nadir Khan bt Turyali 3-0. Raees Khan bt Mohammad Hussain Changezi 3-1. Masood Ahmed bt Bilal Siddiqui 3-2. Khurram Khan bt. Sunny Shahani 3-2. Noman Awan bt Mohammad Yousuf 3-2. Rauf Sheikh bt Syed Qasim Shah 3-1. Imran Yousuf bt Raja Rasheed 3-0. Mehmood Khan bt. Khawja Rizwan 3-2.