January 25, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1423

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KARACHI, Jan 24: Dangerman Rambel Gul dented the chances of seventh seed Minhas Malik of qualifying for the last 16, when he finally came through a 4-3 winner in the 28th Red & White National Snooker Championship played on Friday.

This hard earned victory, enabled Rambel to register his second successive win, after securing a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Minhas, winning his first two matches with effortless ease fought back courageously levelling the frame scores at 2-2, only to see Rambel forge ahead 3-2. Once again the frame scores were tied, this time at 3-3, but Rambel, in a cool and calculated manner reserved his best for the last frame 77/2.

Shah Khan, the bearded cueist from the NWFP who hardly sports a smile, went about his business like a silent assassin by sending 12th seed Vishan Gir crashing to a 4-1 defeat to deliver the Sindh left-hander with his second defeat in three games.

Also on the receiving end once again was 11th seed Amit Parwani, who crashed out 2-4 to NWFP’s Nauman Awan. With this third defeat in a row, Amit having a horrible time at the Nationals, can kiss his chances of reaching the last 16 goodbye.

Raja Rashid, kept his chances alive by handing out a 4-0 defeat to Nadeem Rashid. In tremendous form Raja chalked out breaks of 30, 41, and 37 in the first three frames and then added 44 and 74 in the final frame.

The same could be said about Mirza Shahdab Baig, who kept his unbeaten record intact by humbling Balochistan’s Mustafa Hyder 4-0. Also winning by a 4-0 margin was Abu Saim, making short work of Faisal Essa.

In matches that went the full distance, Saqib Butt got the better of Imran Mughal 4-3 with fine breaks of 41, 62 and 69 with Imran fighting to last collecting 46 points on the trot in the second frame. M. Faiq Malik kept on his winning spree, downing Arshad Siddiq by the same scoreline after being on the verge of defeat, trailing 1-3 when he lost the fourth frame on the black ball.

But refusing to surrender, Faiq came back strongly to pinch the last three frames and emerge a relieved 4-3 winner.

Farhan Noor registered another victory in taming Mohammad Asif 4-1. But Irfan Rasheed had another setback when he went down 4-2 to Raees Khan.

Kamran Shah gained some satisfaction, scoring his first victory by blocking off Punjab Cup winner Mohammad Shahid 4-2.

Results on the fourth day.

Shadab Baig (Sindh) beat Mustafa Hyder (Balochistan) 4-0: 68/13, 56/12, 62.54, 78/30. Abu Saim (Punjab) beat Faisal Essa 4-0: 89/10, 69/39, 73/8, 74/38. Raees Khan (Punjab) beat Irfan Rasheed Khan 4-2: 66/23, 38/49, 79/17, 40/66, 77/56, 60/39. Farhan Noor (Punjab) beat Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 4-1: 96/19, 36/61, 66/52, 57/11, 61/32. Raja Rasheed (Punjab) beat Nadeem Rashid (Punjab) 4-0: 63/52, 60/40, 57/66, 115/9. Saqib Butt (Punjab) beat Imran Mughal (Punjab) 4-3: 57/45, 47/66, 29/63, 74/44, 86/2, 36/69, 69/27. Kamran Shah (Balochistan) beat Mohammad Shahid (Punjab) 4-2: 65/61, 72/39, 43/68, 60/20, 14/64, 43/21. M. Faiq Malik (Punjab) beat Arshad Siddiq (NWFP) 4-3: 69/6, 46/53, 28/68, 64/65, 71/43, 79/37, 60/16. Shah Khan (NWFP) beat Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-1: 63/29, 75/46, 7/72, 62/55, 61/31. Nauman Awan (NWFP) beat Amit Parwani (Sindh) 4-2: 52/63, 66/28, 45/78, 68/41, 53/25, 65/15. Rambel Gul (NWFP) beat Minhas Malik (Sindh) 4-3: 58/55, 70/58, 56/67, 16/53, 76/16, 42/66, 77/2. Mohammad Hussain (Balochistan) w/o Younus Amir Bux (Sindh). Janan (Balochistan) w/o Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh). Yousuf Khan (NWFP) w/o Fahad Asif (Punjab).