12 February 2004	Thursday	20 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 11: Eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti, displaying so much promise in the past, was the first seeded player to bow out of the 29th National Snooker Championship, losing his third match in a row , after being routed by Shakir Rafiq 4-0, at the Karachi Club on Wednesday.

Shakeel, who qualified from the Sindh Cup a few years ago was considered one of the promising youngsters and confirmed is billing by soon latching on to the No.8 spot, bagging the scalps of many of the top stars including the former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf.

However this year Shakeel's game seems to have been blown to pieces, losing his first match to Nauman Awan 4-2, on the second day of the tournament, then went down 4-0 to Punjab Cup qualifier Shehram Changezi and sealing his doom in his 4-0 defeat to Shakir.

However the first seven seeds maintaining their unbeaten runs, have all made it through to the last 16. Defending champion and No.4 seed Yousuf beat Mohammad Amin 4-1, with break of 46 in the fourth frame. Top seed Khurram Agha accounted for M. Jamshed 4-1, also with a break of 46, third seed Naveen Perwani ending the pretensions of Aamir Samdani 4-1, second seed Saleh Mohammad in fine fettle while downing Danish Karim 4-0, with the newcomer tasting is first defeat after two notable victories, fifth seed Farhan Mirza clipping Kashif Khan 4-1, six seed Atiq Latif Bux making heavy weather in his 4-3 victory over Farrukh Usman and seventh seed Imran Shehzad who handed out a 4-1 defeat to Sindh Cup runner-up Sohail Shehzad.

If all goes well, Khurram should be joined by Punjab's Imran Mughal from Group A in reaching the knock out rounds. Saleh and NWFP's Sher Khan should go through from Group B, Naveen and Mohammad Akhlas from Group C, Yousuf with Abu Saim or Raees Khan from Group D, Farhan and Mohammad Nazir from Group E, Atiq Latif Bux from Group F, Imran Shehzad and Amit Parwani from Group G and Vishan Gir and Shehram Changezi from Group H. In other matches played on Wednesday, Imtiaz Tipu beat Wajed Khan 4-1, Shahid Ilyas beat MudassaR 4-0, Shahid A. Saghar beat Inam ur Rehman 4-1, Shahid Ali beat Rehmat Ayub 4-1, Janan Khan beat Mohammad Hussain 4-3, Kamran Shah beat Jan Ali and Zia Amir beat Atif Mughal.

NWFP's Nauman Awan gave is slight chances of reaching the last 16 a boost, getting the better of Shehram Chengzi 4-2.

Results:

Mohammad Yousuf bt Mohammad Amin 4-1: 47/55, 57/4, 68/42, 76/8, 63/33. Khurram Agha bt M. Jamshed 4-1: 79/33, 60/67, 77/10, 69/51, 54/30. Saleh Mohammad bt Danish Karim 4-0: 68/30, 61/23, 79/4, 65/28. Naveen Perwani bt Aamir Samdani 4-1: 58/22, 65/44, 57/4, 46/59, 67/18. Shakir Rafiq bt Shakeel Bhatti 4-0: 80/21, 48/6, 59/33, 62/15. Farhan Mirza bt Kashif Khan 4-1: 40/56, 67/35, 63/39, 63/28, 79/7. Atiq Latif Bux bt Farrukh Usman 4-3: 82/9, 47/62, 65/19, 51/60, 67/2, 39/52, 65/22. Imran Shehzad bt Sohail Shehzad 4-1: 36/56, 71/29, 66/26, 61/49, 64/40. Nauman Awan bt Shehram Changezi 4-2: 19/62, 67/1, 56/45, 49/14, 47/61, 63/7. Imtiaz Tipu bt Wajed Khan 4-1: 75/10, 60/10, 66/28, 38/72, 57/30. Shahid Ilyas bt Muddasar 4-0: 63/13, 64/48, 56/22, 56/15. Shahid A. Saghar bt Inam ur Rehman 4-1: 62/28, 51/69, 73/47, 69/7, 67/27. Shahid Ali bt Rehmat Ayub 4-1: 53/33, 68/19, 55/64, 67/47, 65/25. Janan Khan bt Mohammad Hussain 4-3: 63/53, 39/59, 33/73, 61/37, 53/20, 44/74, 61/15. Kamran Shah bt Jan Ali 4-1: 73/48, 69/25, 61/13, 55/70, 59/38. Zia Amir bt Atiq Mughal 4-2: 8/86, 66/23, 55/45, 20/66, 79/14, 59/45.