KARACHI, April 5: Hanif Raja, almost pulled off a surprise victory, before going down to seeded Atiq Latif Bux by two frames to one, in the Fourth Red & White Billiards tournament played at the Snooker Zone on Saturday.

Atiq more renowned in the snooker circles got off to a fine start winning the first frame 100/34. But Hanif playing like one possessed, equalised the scores 1-1 by taking the second frame 104/67.

In the final frame with both cueists giving nothing away, battling it out neck and neck, Hanif leading 95/92 seemed to be on target just five points away from victory. Much to his horror, Hanif failed to gather a further three points after failing to sink the difficult red ball.

Atiq, lucky to be let off the hook, calmly cannoned his opponent’s cue ball, sunk the red ball in the top pocket and was home and dry stealing another two points on his opponents cue ball.

Another fancied player Mohammad Hussain too almost met his Waterloo.

The aging Pathan, winner of this tournament two years ago and fancying to win this tournament once again, won the opening frame 102/64. But was in for a pleasant surprise when his opponent Sharik Amin, fighting back tooth and nail, levelled the scores 1-1, grabbing the next frame 102/93.

Gathering about his shattered wits, the former champion went on the defensive, scoring a few points and then going for safety. This ploy enabled Hussain to build up his score. Cornered, Sharik tried desperately hard to pace with his wily opponent, but Hussain moved further to that magic mark of 100 to take the game 2-1.

In another cliffhanger, NWFP’s Inam ur Rehman caused a minor surprise coming from behind to beat Sindh’s seasoned Shahid N. Minhas 2-1.

In other matches that went in straight sets, Khurram Hussain Agha beat Shah Khan 2-0, Minhas Malik beat Aamir Ahmed 2-1, scoring 67 points on the trot in the second frame. Promising youngster Danish Karim beat seasoned Mukhtar Khan 2-0, Shakeel Bhatti made short work of Fayyaz Tanoli in straight frames, unpredictable Ahmed Bawany accounted for Masood Ahmed 2-0 and another veteran Mohammad Aslam was just too good for Salman Sheikh.

In nine-ball pool, Mohammad Hussain had another fight on his hands before overcoming Kamran Razzak 7-5. After going neck and neck in the first eight racks, Sulman Samuel Shahani pulled away to sound the death knell for Babar Rafiq.

However, Hanif Raja gathered some satisfaction after his defeat in snooker, when he overwhelmed Faisal Hussain 7-1. Other first round winners were Inam ur Rehman 7-2 victor over Hassan Arif, Umair Anwar getting the better of Shariq Amin by the same score and Shah Khan disposing off M. Irfan 7-2.

Before the tournament commenced Arif Tahirbhoy, joint secretary PBSA, got all the players together and a one minute’s silence was observed for the former Pakistan No.2 Younus Amir Bux, who died recently. Fateha was also offered for the departed soul. It was also learnt that the Karachi Club will be holding a tournament in Younus’ name to raise funds for his family.

Following are the billiards results on the opening day.

Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Shah Khan (NWFP) 2-0: 100/23, 100/84. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Hanif Raja (Sindh) 2-1: 100/34, 67/104, 101/95. Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Aamir Ahmed (Sindh) 2-0: 102/34, 100/84. Danish Karim (Sindh) beat Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) 2-0: 100/590, 101/61. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Fayyaz Tanoli (NWFP) 2-0: 100/34, 100/34. Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Sharik Amin (Sindh) 2-1: 102/64, 93/102, 100/47. Sunny Samuel Shahani (Sindh) w/o Saqib Butt (Punjab). Irshad Mamsa (Sindh) w/o Abu Saim (Punjab). Inam ur Rehman (NWFP) beat Shahid N. Minhas (Sindh) 2-1: 65/105, 101/74, 101/61. Ahmed Bawany (Sindh) beat Masood Ahmed (Sindh) 2-0: 101/55, 106/79. Mohammad Aslam (Sindh) beat Salman Sheikh (Sindh) 2-0: 100/29, 101/15.

Following were the results in Nine Ball Pool.

Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Kamran Razzak (Sindh) 7-5. Hanif Raja (Sindh) beat Faisal Hussain (Sindh) 7-1. Inam ur Rehman (NWFP) beat Hassan Arif (Sindh) 7-2. Sunny Samuel Shahani (Sindh) beat Babar Rafiq (Sindh) 7-4. Umair Anwar (Sindh) beat Shariq Amin (Sindh) 7-2. Shah Khan (NWFP) beat M. Irfan (Sindh) 7-2. Nasim Paracha (Sindh) w/o Zain Mohammad (Sindh). Bharat Satiani (Sindh) w/o Faisal Atiq (Sindh).