KARACHI, July 31: Bespectacled seventh seed Farhan Mirza brought back fond memories of his glorious past as a teenager, when he routed the defending champion and second seed Saleh Mohammad 5-1, to book his berth in the semi-final of the 12th Red & White Snooker Championship played on Thursday at the Snooker Area Club in Gizri.

In days gone by Farhan as a bustling 18-year-old teenager had the distinction of being crowned both the National Senior and Junior champion in the same year, also finishing up as runner-up in the Asian Junior snooker championship for two years on the trot, and selected along with Saleh Mohammad, to play in the Professional ranks in England.

But after those bright spots, Farhan’s game began to dwindle and suddenly the most exciting prospect for Pakistan’s snooker seemed to be reduced to shambles. It appeared that Farhan was losing complete interest in the game, sliding down the ranks. He did not participate in the last ranking tournament and slid further down the ladder to No. 7.

Even when this tournament began, Farhan back from Sweden where he is presently based, lost his opening match in the qualifiers 4-3, after holding an impregnable 3-0 lead. But after that debacle, Farhan has suddenly transformed himself altogether.

He won the next two qualifiers easily, booking his place in the last 16 after being perched on top in Group G. He then sent eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti packing 5-2 in the pre-quarter-finals, registering a stunning break of 92, the second highest to date behind Khurram Hussain Agha’s magnificent 122 against Rambel Gul in the qualifiers.

When the game began, Saleh a former World No.3, was tipped as the firm favourite and after surrendering the opening frame 19/96, bounced back drawing abreast 1-1, snapping up the next frame 69/46, chalking up a break of 58 to Farhan’s 45, which was certainly not enough.

Suddenly the whole complexion of the game changed. With Saleh in a state of shock, not to mention the snooker fans in the jampacked hall, Farhan like an exterminator went about his business. Potting with great accuracy and keeping Saleh on the defensive, Farhan continued to build up the score, cruising through to the next four frame to emerge a shock 5-1 winner.

Although beaten into submission, Saleh can gather some satisfaction even in defeat. He still holds the No.2 spot in the rankings and along with Khurram Hussain Agha, will represent Pakistan in the World championship to held in China in October.

Also brushing aside his opponent by an identical margin, was the top seed Khurram Hussain Agha, who reduced Abu Saim to a mere passenger in his quest for a semi-final berth.

Taking the first two frames with effortless ease with breaks of 68 and 49, Khurram dropped the third frame 43/83, with Abu chalking up 37 points on the trot.

Scoring freely with breaks of 30, 31, 43 and 36, Khurram ran through the next three frames to make a comfortable entry into the semi-finals.

Sixth seed Imran Shehzad however, had to work up a sweat in overcoming his Punjab counterpart Imran Mughal 5-3. Mughal took a flying start grabbing the first two frames 66/35 and 63/39. But Shehzad biding his time swept through the next four frames helped on with a break of 82 in the fourth.

Mughal in arrears 2-4 was not giving up in a hurry. With a last desperate gasp he won a close seventh frame 58/45, before surrendering the match after losing the eighth 43/70.

In a match that went the full distance, fourth seed Naveen Perwani, who the previous afternoon sent Mohammad Yousuf crashing to his doom, won a tense battle of wits and skill with fifth seed Atiq Latif Bux 5-4.

Atiq began his quest for a semis berth in style winning the first two frame with breaks of 33 and 32. He went further by scoring 36 points on his second visit to the table in the third, but this effort was not enough. Naveen potting blue, pink and black won the third frame 58/56 cutting down the deficit 1-2 and was soon on even terms 2-2 winning the fourth frame also 52/46.

Playing some magnificent shots Atiq was in front again, pocketing the fifth frame 89/20 helped on with a break of 48. Naveen retaliated with a break of 54, winning the sixth frame 98/0 and drawing abreast once again 3-3 to be in front for the first time in the match, bagging the seventh frame also 70/26, after Atiq tried desperately hard to snooker opponent who was growing in stature.

Down 3-4 and facing defeat, Atiq threw caution to the winds. Cashing on a crucial mistake by Naveen on the brown ball, Atiq drew level 4-4, winning the eight frame 74/21.

The final frame began rather cautiously. Both cueists were waiting for the other to make an error which finally came when Atiq inoffed on the brown ball. Seizing the initiative, Naveen continued to pile on the score in the final frame which forced Atiq to surrender the frame and match after Naveen sunk the yellow ball with the green, brown, blue, pink and black still on the table.

The two semi-finals will be played in the best of 11 frames commencing from 3.00 p.m.

Friday’s semi-final lineup. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) v/s Imran Shehzad (Punjab). Naveen Perwani (Sindh) v/s Farhan Mirza (Punjab).

Following are the quarter-final results: Naveen Perwani (Sindh) beat Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) 5-4: 52/61, 41/67, 58/56, 52/46, 20/89, 98/0, 70/26, 21/74, 66/29. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Abu Saim (Punjab) 5-1: 77/32, 74/11, 43/83, 89/29, 66/56, 80/5. Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) 5-1: 96/19, 46/69, 70/23, 56/47, 79/7, 67/54. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Imran Mughal (Punjab) 5-3: 35/66, 39/63, 58/43, 86/0, 58/38, 78/71, 45/58, 70/43.