April 7, 2003	Monday	Safar 4, 1424

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KARACHI, April 6: Top seed Saleh Mohammad and former national champion Mohammad Hussain booked their berths in the quarter-finals of the Fourth Red & White Billiards championship in contrasting styles at the Snooker Zone on the main Shaheed-e- Millat Road on Sunday.

While Saleh brushed aside Irshad Mamsa 102/31 and 101/15, Hussain had to break into a sweat in finally overcoming the stiff resistance put up by Ahmed Bawany 100/66 and 100/96.

Joining these two in the quarter-finals was young Danish Karim, who shocked seasoned Yousuf Haroon 2-0 and another fancied player Khurram Hussain Agha, had to bring out his best in getting the better of Atiq Latif Bux 102/91, 22/103 and 101/28.

Joining his two NWFP colleagues Saleh and Hussain was Inam ur Rehman, but he too had a steep mountain to climb while overcoming the likes of Ajab Khan 78/103, 100/64, 101/80.

Punjab’s Imran Shehzad had a 2-0 victory over Mohammad Aslam, while Minhas Malik ended the pretension of Sunny Samuel Shahani by the same margin.

On the Pool tables some very exciting matches were witnessed.

The one that topped the rest was between the two Sindh players Salman Sheikh and M. Zubair Baig. In a cliffhanger that went the full distance, Salman heaved a sigh of relief when he beat his worthy opponent Zubair 7-6.

In other interesting matches, Sohail Shahzad beat Shiraz Sheikh 7-5. Also winning by identical margins were Mukhtar Khan, who got the better of Aamir Saeed and Nadeem Iqbal who accounted for Jamal Ahmed.

Also moving ahead were Atif Ayub, who beat Ajab Khan 7-4. Umair Anwar stopping Shariq Amin 7-2, M. Irfan beating the iceman from the NWFP Shah Khan 7-2, while Danish Karim dropped a rack before breezing past M. Waqas 7-1. Young Sohail Shehzad Jr. making his maiden appearance in a ranking tournament was beaten 7-0 by Masood Ahmed. Do not let the scoreline fool you, the youngster although displaying a bout of nervous strain played well for a youngster making his first appearance in front of a huge gathering. However, young Sohail has the qualities of becoming a good pool player. The billiard quarter-finals will be played on Monday in the morning session while the Pool matches will commence in the afternoon.

Following were the billiards results:

Inam ur Rehman (NWFP) beat Ajab Khan (Sindh) 2-1: 78/103, 100/64, 101/80. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Mohammad Aslam (Sindh) 2-0: 100/83, 100/37. Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Ahmed Bawany (Sindh) 2-0: 100/66, 100/96. Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Sunny Samuel Shahani (Sindh) 2-0: 103/58, 101/84. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) 2-1: 102/91, 22/103, 101/28. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Irshad Mamsa (Sindh) 2-0: 102/31, 101/15. Danish Karim (Sindh) beat Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) 2-0: 100/18, 100/80. Following were the results in the Nine Ball Pool Danish Karim (Sindh) beat M. Waqas (Sindh) 7-1. Salman Sheikh (Sindh) beat Zubair Baig (Sindh) 7-6. Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) beat Shiraz Sheikh (Sindh) 7-5. Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) beat Aamir Saeed (Sindh) 7-5: Nadeem Iqbal (Sindh) beat Jamal Ahmed (Sindh) 7-5. Atif Ayub (Sindh) beat Ajab Khan (Sindh) 7-4. Masood Ahmed (Sindh) beat Sohail Shehzad Jr. (Sindh) 7-0. Yousuf Ali (Sindh) w/o Abu Saim (Punjab).