24 April 2004	Saturday	03 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, April 23: Naveen Perwani, registered a splendid 122 clearance on the opening day of the 8th Style Ranking snooker championship played on Friday at the Karachi Gymkhana.

Although Naveen chalked up another fine break of 47 in the very next frame against Punjab's Mudassar, he did not have things going all his way and finally had to break into a sweat to escape defeat, finally coming through a relieved 4-3 winner.

After conceding the opening frame 34/66, Naveen got into his strides pinching the next three frames with relative ease. But Mudassar although sinking fast was not giving up in a hurry.

He stormed back taking the next two frames, scoring 46 points on the trot in the sixth frame to draw level 3-3. Taken aback by his opponent's gusty fightback, Naveen got down to brass tacks and scoring with every visit to the table, finally sealed the match in his favour, grabbing the deciding frame 70/25.

Defending champion and second seed Saleh Mohammad was in impeccable form with a clearance of 93, followed by breaks of 43 and 71 in the next two frames as he swept past Bilal Ahmed 4-0.

Mohammad Yousuf the third seed, had to work a little harder in disposing of Mohammad Amin, although the former world champion had breaks of 78, missing pink in the third frame and scoring 50 in the concluding frame.

Earlier top seed Khurram Hussain Agha whizzed past Saqib Zia 4-0, helped on with breaks of 69 and 41, while Minhas Malik also helped himself to a 4-0 victory against Mohammad Jamshed.

Punjab's Abu Saim, who reached the last 16 in the Asian competition while making his debut for Pakistan, registered a fluent break of 81 in his 4-2 victory over Punjab colleague Shahid Ali Saghar, who fought on to the bitter end.

Fifth seed Imran Shehzad also from Punjab had to work overtime in getting the better of Janan Khan 4-3 and the same could be said about Rambel Gul who beat Kamran Shah by the same margin.

Former eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti made heavy weather of the proceedings in beating Hanif M. Bux 4-3, while Mohammad Nazir, a semifinalist in the Nationals two months ago, came from behind to beat Punjab youngster Imtiaz Tipu 4-3 after trailing 58/26 in the final frame.

Sixth seed Atiq Latif Bux surrendering the first two frames to NWFP's Nauman Awan, finally found his rhythm to grab the next four to emerge a 4-2 winner. Seventh seed Vishan Gir helped on with a break of 48 cruised past Haider Taj 4-1, while eighth seed Amit Parwani had an easier time in his 4-1 triumph over Wajed Khan, with breaks of 41 and 50.

In other matches played, Shah Khan went about in a business like fashion defeating Shahid Ali 4-1 and Saqib Butt seemed fully at ease in his 4-2 victory over Zia ul Islam.

Farrukh Usman was awarded a walk-over as his opponent from Punjab Imran Mughal failed to turn up at the venue. The second day's matches continue today from 10.00 a.m.

Following were the results:

Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Saqib Zia (Sindh) 4-0: 90/2, 63/55, 58/41,71/23. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Bilal Ahmed (Sindh) 4-0: 103/23, 61/13, 75/8, 60/45. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Mohammad Amin (Sindh) 4-2: 54/45, 60/21, 97/6, 17/64, 13/74, 61/14. Naveed Perwani (Sindh) beat Mudassar (NWFP) 4-3: 34/66, 71/24, 123/5, 70/16, 22/63, 34/70, 70/25. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Janan Khan (Balochistan) 4-3: 25/94, 46/37, 29/54, 78/15, 72/37, 38/56, 58/42. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Nauman Awan (NWFP) 4-2: 42/62, 32/65, 61/48, 56/12, 59/24, 64/37. Vishan Gir (Sindh) beat Haider Taj (Sindh) 4-1: 63/39, 56/64, 85/6, 51/14, 58/8. Amit Parwani (Sindh) beat Wajed Khan (NWFP) 4-1: 63/26, 69/18, 26/75, 55/17, 76/8. Saqib Butt (Punjab) beat Zia ul Islam (NWFP) 4-2: 62/15, 44/55, 89/1, 27/53, 61/44, 63/27. Rambel Gul (NWFP) beat Kamran Shah (Balochistan) 4-3: 19/52, 97/3, 75/54, 24/65, 66/10, 48/58, 65/44. Shah Khan (NWFP) beat Shahid Ali (Punjab) 4-1: 44/76, 59/26, 75/32, 565/13, 48/39. Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Mohammad Jamshed (Sindh) 4-0: 60/49, 70/38, 54/37, 66/44. Abu Saim (Punjab) beat Shahid Ali Saghar (Punjab) 4-2: 22/55, 65/14, 56/57, 101/7, 63/23, 65/40. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) beat Imtiaz Tipu (Punjab) 4-3: 57/3, 46/63, 11/79, 48/16, 24/58, 56/12, 60/58. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Hanif M. Bux 4-3: 63/33, 47/67, 63/40, 51/58, 61/44, 57/71, 69/14. Farrukh Usman (Sindh) w/o Imran Mughal (Punjab).