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| January 27, 2003 | Monday | Ziqa’ad 23,1423 |
Kamran hands shock defeat to Shakeel
KARACHI, Jan 26: Balochistan’s Kamran Shah, with only one win so far under his belt, caused quite a sensation at the KPT Sports Complex on Sunday, when he beat Sindh’s eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti 4-2 in the 28th Red & White National Snooker Championship.
Shakeel poised on top in Group H with three victories in three outings, seemed bemused when Kamran took the opening frame 74/31 and was soon on level terms 1-1. Kamran took over the lead again, pocketing the third frame only to see Shakeel back on even terms once again at 2-2.
But it was Kamran playing impeccable snooker who surprised all and sundry present at the venue by picking up the next two frames and the match 4-3.
Defending champion and sixth seed Farhan Mirza was indeed lucky to come through a 4-3 winner, when counterpart Raja Rasheed gave the bespectacled cueist a run for his money.
Leading 1-0 and 2-1, Farhan was soon in the doldrums trailing 2-3, as Raja came back magnificently. But using his vast experience, Farhan brought out is best in the last two frames to win this encounter 4-3 and keep his unbeaten record in intact.
Seventh seed Atiq Latif Bux was lucky to survive another nerve tingling encounter, when he finally got the better of the fighting Saqib Butt from Punjab 4-3 to retain his top spot in Group G.
Second seed Naveen Perwani, after two very close calls, ended the winning spree of former Sindh Cup champion Shahdab Baig, when he came through a 4-1 winner helped on with a break of 61 in the opening frame. Third seed Saleh Mohammad, chalking up breaks of 50, 42 and 62, demolished Faisal Essa 4-1, while fourth seed Mohammad Yousuf ended the pretensions of Irfan Rasheed Khan with a 4-1 triumph.
Fifth seed Imran Shehzad brushed aside counterpart Farhan Noor 4-2, after the two were locked 2-2 at one stage of the game. But the most impressive display on Sunday came from Punjab’s M. Faiq Malik, who stormed through a 4-1 winner against Sindh’s Farouk Osman 4-1 with splendid breaks of 96, 80 and 54.
Punjab’s Mohammad Nasir made his chances of reaching the last 16 from Group A, all the more stronger with a thumping 4-0 win against the Sindh veteran Yousuf Haroon, which included breaks of 40 and 77.
Also keeping his chances alive of reaching the knock out rounds from Group H was the Sindh cueist Kashif Khan, who upset Minhas Malik 4-2.
Vishan Gir making a late comeback, trounced Najmur Rehman 4-0, with fine breaks of 50, 54 and 49, but the same could not be said about 11th seed Amit Parwani, yet to register a win in this tournament, beaten 4-1 by Mohammad Akhlas.
NWFP’s Arifullah breezed past Mohammad Baqar 4-1, but later in the evening he was beaten by former Pakistan No.2 Mohammad Shafiq 4-2, to have his chances dented of qualifying for the last 16.
Following were the results on the sixth day.
Vishan Gir (Sindh) beat Najmir Rehman (Sindh) 4-0: 86/28, 80/30, 70/11, 71/28. Mohammad Akhlas beat Amit Parwani (Sindh) 4-1: 57/54, 56/69, 90/1, 69/47, 54/29. Arifullah (NWFP) beat Mohammad Baqar (Sindh) 4-1: Kashif Khan (Sindh) beat Minhas Malik (Sindh) 4-2: 73/36, 76/37, 57/53, 42/46, 13/44, 83/41. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) beat Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) 4-0: 58/50, 73/17, 52/44, 77/9. M. Faik Malik (Punjab) beat Faroukh Osman (Sindh) 4-1: 96/20, 60/48, 43/52, 109/2, 70/39. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-2: 72/38, 34/65, 56/48, 35/50, 55/12, 85/25. Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Raja Rashid 4-3: 67/57, 20/67, 60/48, 62/79, 45/70, 91/3668/9. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-3: 80/9, 49/57, 59/57, 53/50, 42/61, 53/66, 62/53. Kamran Shah (Balochistan) beat Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 4-2: 74/31, 21/59, 67/57, 51/53, 76/36, 57/43. Naveen Parwani (Sindh) beat 92/6, 52/35, 58/69, 68/44, 69/41. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Faisal Essa (Sindh) 4-1: 70/26, 85/25, 13/60, 85/0, 75/16. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Irfan Rasheed Khan (Sindh) 4-1: 53/14, 36/65, 85/26, 54/23, 80/20. Mohammad Shafiq (NWFP) beat Arifullah 4-2: 85/22,73/24, 48/49, 49/29, 61/11, 65/35. Masood Ahmed (Sindh) w/o Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh). Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) w/o Fahad Asif (Punjab). Khurram Agha (Sindh) w/o Younus Amir Bux (Sindh).
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