July 31, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1424

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KARACHI, July 30: Fourth seed Naveen Perwani caused an upset on Wednesday when he sent the former World and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf crashing out 5-2, in the pre-quarterfinals of the 12th Red & White Cup played at the Snooker Area Club in Gizri.

In the qualifying rounds Naveen was very lucky to qualify for the knock-out stage after losing his opening match to Mohammad Akhlas 3-4. But squeezing through in his next engagement by a 4-3 margin and then in a see saw tussle with his cousin Amit Parwani, came through a 4-3 winner, that saw him scrape into the last 16.

Yousuf too, seeded at No.3 was also in a spot of bother in his qualifying rounds. He lost one match to a relatively unknown cueist from Punjab Raja Rasheed 4-2, but winning the next two engagements, managed to grab the top spot in Group C to reach the last 16.

Naveen was lucky to win the opening frame on the black ball. Yousuf fuming at his bad luck came storming back, pocketing the next two frames with a stamp of a champion and most of the snooker fans watching the match were of the opinion that Yousuf was going to waltz through to the quarter-finals, with Naveen hitting a bad patch once again.

But Naveen who lost to Yousuf in the final of the Nationals held in Quetta three years ago, suddenly regained his form when all seemed lost.

Helped on with a break of 59, Naveen began to pot with brilliance, seizing every opportunity to keep the scoreboard moving. Yousuf now reduced to a mere passenger stood by helplessly as Naveen streaked through a 5-2 winner.

Amit with two fine wins and one defeat in the qualifying rounds perched himself on top in Group D. But his advance into the quarter-final was halted by Punjab’s Abu Saim, runner up in Group H.

Amit began in a confident manner picking up the first two frames. But Abu, a fighter to the core, came back strongly pinching the next three frames on the trot, chalking up a break of 49 in the fifth, only to see Amit back in contention drawing level 3-3, after winning the sixth frame. Picking up the seventh frame also, victory awaited Amit around the corner now in front 4-3. But it was not to be. Trailing in the vital eighth frame, Abu unruffled with the situation won a hard fought engagement 62/52 to draw abreast 4-4 thanks to a fine break of 49 and with confidence regained, won the final frame 64/37 to come through a 5-4 winner.

Another seed to fall by the wayside was the No.8 Shakeel Bhatti, who after winning the opening frame with ease from seventh seed Farhan Mirza, surrendered easily as Farhan in full flow had a handsome break of 92, the highest to date in the tournament, to book his place in the quarter-finals a 5-2 winner.

Top seed Khurram Hussain Agha with splendid breaks of 86, 48 and 69, made short work of Punjab’s Saqib Butt 5-1, while the defending champion and No.2 seed Saleh Mohammad after allowing Sindh’s Masood Ahmed to level the scores 2-2, drew away helped on with a break of 69 to emerge a comfortable 5-2 winner.

Fifth seed Atiq Latif Bux, with is fair share of worries in the qualifiers, brought out his best in disposing NWFP’s dangerman Rambel Gul, chalking up breaks of 54 and 57.

Punjab’s Imran Mughal trailing 1-2 against young left-hander Vishan Gir, got his act together, winning his match by a 5-3 margin. Imran had breaks of 40 and 43 in the third and sixth frames to Vishan’s 41 in the opener.

Sixth seed Imran Shehzad finally got the better of his Punjab counterpart Mohammed Nazir, in a thrilling match that went the full distance.

Losing the first frame, Imran bounced back by bagging the next three frames aided with breaks of 40, 52 and 58. But Nazir fighting back not only levelled the scores 3-3, but went ahead 4-3, picking up the next three frames.

Although rattled with his opponent’s comeback, Imran hit back strongly, winning the eighth frame 75/59, drawing level 4-4. Then following this up with a 59/36 triumph in the concluding frame, Imran with a total sigh of relief won the match 5-4.

Pre-quarterfinal results:

Naveen Perwani (Sindh) beat Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 5-2: 52/50, 47/74, 2/67, 70/15, 71/30, 71/26, 68/23. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Masood Ahmed Sindh) 5-2: 68/39, 78/35, 32/74, 24/59, 74/8, 71/16, 64/42. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Rambel Gul (NWFP) 5-1: 64/8, 73/50, 16/61, 68/48, 79/32, 62/32. Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 5-2: 8/72, 83/23, 50/37, 81/23, 9/74, 107/0, 61/41. Imran Mughal (Punjab) beat Vishan Gir (Sindh) 5-3: 36/71, 64/12, 41/67, 81/11, 62/38, 73/43, 55/57, 93/27. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Saqib Butt (Punjab) 5-1: 87/9, 90/23, 77/38, 79/29, 59/73, 50/36. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) 5-4: 40/83, 63/55, 69/51, 83/27, 30/62, 10/62, 59/67, 75/59, 59/36. Abu Saim (Punjab) beat Amit Parwani (Sindh) 5-4: 32/70, 61/64, 70/45, 71/37, 73/30, 48/70, 39/71, 62/52, 64/37.

Following is the quarter-final lineup for Thursday which begins at 1.00 p.m.

Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) v/s Abu Saim (Punjab). Imran Mughal (Punjab) v/s Imran Shehzad (Punjab). Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) v/s Naveen Perwani (Sindh). Farhan Mirza (Punjab) v/s Saleh Mohammad (NWFP).