KARACHI, April 17: Amit Parwani made a triumphant entry into the last 16 of the Sixth Red & White Style snooker tournament, when he humbled fifth seed Saleh Mohammad 4-3, in the final match in Group E at Karachi Gymkhana Wednesday.

When play began, the bespectacled cueist tied with two points apiece with Punjab’s Farhan Noor, had to pinch two frames from Saleh to grab the second spot in the Group, even if he had to lose to the former world No.3.

Saleh in his usual aggressive mood picked up the opening frame 76/41, but Amit fighting back levelled the scores, grabbing the next frame 56/45. Once again Saleh took over the lead 2-1 and had a comfortable 30 points lead in the fourth with a red and the six coloured balls on the table.

Amit potted the red with brown and followed it up with the yellow, green, brown, blue and pink, only to falter going for the black. This was indeed a crucial stage for Amit. He desperately needed to win this frame to keep his hopes alive for a place in the last 16.

Saleh going for black in the fifth pocket missed a cushion shot which left the ball ideally placed near the pocket. Heaving a sigh of relief after being let off the hook, Amit with the rest sunk the black to level the frame scores 2-2.

Saleh forged ahead 3-2, but Amit relieved at crossing the first barrier played some excellent snooker to level the scores again, this time at 3-3. Then helped on with a quick break of 44 points, much to the happiness of his band of supporters, Amit sealed the match 4-3, and booked his berth amongst the last 16.

Although Amit came out victorious and levelled the points scores 3-3 with Saleh, he could not grab the top slot, with Saleh perched on top in Group E, with a +8 frame advantage to Amit’s +4.

The top seed Khurram Hussain Agha also met with disaster, losing to Punjab’s M. Faiq Malik 4-2, after conceding the first frame for arriving late at the playing venue.

This victory enabled Faiq to gather three points, the same as Khurram, but the latter had a +6 frame advantage to Faiq’s +3. But as luck would have it, Faiq did not make it through to the qualifying rounds. Later in the evening, Fahad Asif also from Group A, downed Younus Amir Bux 4-2, to also gain three points and grab the top spot in the group with a +8 frame advantage.

Second seed Farhan Mirza almost met his doom, scraping through a 4-3 victory over Sindh’s talented cueist Ahmer Shaikh, who took a flying 2-0 lead.

With worry written all over his face, Farhan fought back and not only levelled the frame scores 2-2, but went ahead 3-2. But Ahmer was still proving to be thorn in the side. He levelled the frame scores 3-3 with a fluent break of 67, but failed to clear the last hurdle and bow out of the tournament.

Farhan was joined later in the evening session by A. Qadeer Butt, who accounted for another Punjab cueist Khurram Khan 4-2.

More shocks were in store for the snooker fans when wild card entry Abu Saim handed out a 4-2 defeat to sixth seed Imran Shehzad and to add insult to injury, topped Group F with four points and a +11 frame advantage.

Imran leading the Group for the first four days had to be content with second position, with three points.

Third seed Mohammad Yousuf with a pleasant break of 77 in the second frame, ended the pretensions of Punjab’s Raja Rashad 4-1 and top Group C with three points and a +10 frame advantage. The disappointed Raja needed to pick up two frames from Yousuf in order to make it to the last 16. Instead his place was taken by Balochistan’s Mustafa Hyder, although he had a -2 frame difference. This was the very first time that Mustafa has qualified for the last 16, in a ranking tournament and was indeed a happy individual. He will however meet Saleh Mohammad on Thursday afternoon for a quarter-final berth.

Fourth seed Naveen Perwani brushed aside Vishan Gir 4-0 to top Group D with three points and a +9 frame advantage. Although Vishan was soundly beaten, he finished second in the pool, to qualify for the knock out round.

Vishan however, has a steep mountain to climb on Thursday morning, when he meets the former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf for a quarterfinal berth.

It may be recalled that this young left-hander who can beat the best on his day, handed out a 4-0 drubbing to Mohammad Yousuf at the Nationals held in Faisalabad two years ago.

Ironically in that tournament Vishan failed to make it through to the qualifying rounds, while Yousuf emerged winner, beating Saleh Mohammad in an absorbing final.

Seventh seed Atiq Latif Bux needing to win to reach the last 16, made short work of Arifullah 4-0, to draw level with the latter and Punjab’s Mohammad Nazir, all ending up with two points apiece.

However, Atiq topped Group G with +6 frame advantage to Arifullah’s +4. Nazir was sidelined to third position with a +1 frame advantage.

Also making their way into the pre-quarter-finals were eight seed Shakeel Bhatti and ninth seed Minhas Malik. Shakeel beating Minhas 4-2 with a fine break of 67, topped Group H with four points. Minhas edged out Danish Haroon with his +3 frame advantage.

Kamran Shah scored his first triumph in the tournament after drubbing Ahmed Bawany 4-0. The same can be said about Punjab’s Saqib Butt who beat Mohammad Amin 4-1 and Azeem Akhtar, also from Punjab, who beat Faisal Essa 4-2.

Results:

Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Minhas Malik (Sindh) 4-2: 88/8, 60/29, 58/46, 64/65, 49/57, 72/12. Amit Parwani (Sindh) beat Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) 4-3: 41/76, 75/38, 32/70, 65/60, 37/73, 77/36, 63/47. Abu Saim (Punjab) beat Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-2: 76/15, 56/45, 43/68, 69/19, 31/81, 69/20. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Arifullah (NWFP) 4-0: 61/58, 71/43, 67/34, 44/36. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) beat Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-0: 57/25, 38/28, 56/46, 61/34. M. Faiq Malik (Punjab) beat Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) 4-2: 7/95, 66/83, 61/50, 56/17, 78/42 (Khurram conceded the first frame for arriving at the playing venue late). Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh) 4-3: 37/68, 62/74, 71/28, 62/42, 54/27, 21/71, 65/26. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Raja Rashad (Punjab) 4-1: 51/42, 77/3, 68/42, 51/47, 61/6. Azeem Akhtar (Punjab) beat Faisal Essa (Sindh) 4-2: 45/53, 74/13, 59/57, 19/48, 96/0. (The opening frame was awarded to Azeem as Faisal turned up late for his match). Kamran Shah (Balochistan) beat Ahmed Bawany (Sindh) 4-0: 62/59, 74/36, 78/30, 61/29. Saqib Butt (Punjab) beat Mohammad Amin (Sindh) 4-1: 76/36, 15/52, 54/19, 73/53, 67/58. Fahad Asif (Punjab) beat Younus Amir Bux (Sindh) 4-2: 25/54, 67/30, 64/54, 24/60, 61/16, 59/44. A Qadeer Butt (Punjab) beat Khurram Khan (Punjab) 4-2: 75/25, 79/15, 34/70, 40/62, 65/18, 56/31. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) w/o Inam ur Rehman (NWFP). Shadab Baig (Sindh) w/o Hussain Shuja (Punjab). Raees Khan (Punjab) w/o Atif Mughal (Punjab)

Thursday’s pre-quarter lineup.

11.00 a.m. best of nine frames.

Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) v/s Vishan Gir (Sindh). Farhan Mirza (Punjab) v/s Arifullah (NWFP). Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) v/s Imran Shehzad (Punjab). Fahad Asif (Punjab) v/s Amit Parwani (Sindh)

3.00 p.m. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) v/s Khuram Hussain Agha (Sindh). Abu Saim (Punjab) v/s Minhas Malik (Sindh). Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) v/s Mustafa Hyder (Balochistan). Atiq Latif Bux v/s A. Qadeer Butt (Lahore).