KARACHI, Jan 21: Kashif Khan, Shakir Rafiq, Farrukh Usman and Sohail Shahzad Junior advanced to the semifinals of Sindh Cup snooker after victories on Wednesday.

Top seed and reigning champion Kashif conceded two frames in his 4-2 triumph against Muhammad Jamshed. Youthful Jamshed started in a confident fashion by grabbing the opening frame but Kashif took the next four frames to gain 4-1 advantage.

In a last ditch effort Jamshed won the penultimate frame. However, after an interesting contest, Kashif snatched the decider 71-52 to sail into the last four.

Shakir chalked the break of 66 in the fourth frame before overpowering Muhammad Amin from Larkana. Amin took the opening and fifth frame before bowing out.

Like Shakir and Kashif, Sohail also made sluggish start by losing the first frame. But he raced to victory by grabbing the next four frames in row. Farrukh played the longest match in the quarterfinals. He took the first two frames but his opponent Danish Karim fought back to draw 2-2, winning the fourth frame on the black ball 57-56 and pocketed the fifth to take 3-2 lead. However, Farrukh produced his best and showing fine cue control snatched the next three frames to turn the tables on Danish, emerging 5-3 winner.

Quarterfinal results: Shakir Rafiq bt Muhammad Amin 5-2 (6-48, 52-44, 74-27, 80-11, 70-21, 56-58, 74-27); Farrukh Usman bt Danish Karim 5-3 (67-38, 68-38, 45-72, 56-57, 13-56, 60-21, 65-29, 58-39); Sohail Shahzad Jr bt Aamir Samdani 5-1 (42-48, 63-46, 58-06, 81-47, 74-48, 71-52); Kashif Khan bt Muhammad Jamshed 5-2 51-56, 60-11, 61-20, 84-07, 63-21, 14-74, 53-41).-APP