Shock wins for Farrukh, Shahid and Asif in Snooker Cup
By Ian Fyfe
KARACHI, July 25: Three shocks were in store for the snooker fans on the opening day of the 13th Snooker Cup held on Sunday at the Snooker Area Club in Gizri.
Farrukh Usman from the same club sent eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti crashing out 4-0, Punjab's Shahid Ilyas upset seventh seed Amit Parwani 4-3 and another player from Punjab Mohammad Asif, beat NWFP's promising cueist Rambel Gul.
Shakeel was all at sea against Farrukh, who never gave his seeded opponent a ghost of a chance to settle down. Amit was rather unlucky to lose after Shahid came from behind to pocket the last frame 63/62.
But at this stage with the frame scores tied 3-3, Amit technically lost the match 3-4, when his opponent was awarded the opening frame after the seventh seed arrived at the playing venue 10 minutes late.
Rambel Gul, winner of the Style Ranking snooker tournament held a few months ago at the Karachi Gymkhana when he beat Atiq Latif Bux 6-5 in the final with the black tie ball deciding the outcome of the match, was beaming with confidence when his game began. But Asif potting everything in sight won the opener 61/3.
Stung into action and now moving into top gear, Rambel displayed his skill on the green baize taking the next three frames quite comfortably with quick breaks of 72, 41 and 57.
Sliding down the ladder and only a frame away from defeat, Asif fought back magnificently grabbing the next two frames on the trot to come back on even keel 3-3. The final frame began in hushed silence with both cueists on the defensive.
After quite a few visits to the table, Rambel finally broke the ice with seven points. But Asif taking his turn at the table rattled off a break of 62. With only 43 points now on the table (two reds and the coloured balls), Rambel threw in the towel, going down 3-4.
Top seed Khurram Hussain Agha, with breaks of 45 and 48, had Mukhtar Khan on the ropes 4-1, although Mukhtar did manage a break of 45 in the fourth frame. Second seed Saleh Mohammad beat unseeded Kamran Razzak 4-2, storming in with breaks of 47, 82 and 73, However, Kamran should be proud of his performance, stealing two frames from the current world No.2.
Third seed and former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf was in fine form, breezing past Irfan Rasheed Khan 4-0, chalking up a break of 44 in the final frame.
The fourth seed Imran Shehzad, after a good stint against India in the recently concluded Peace Cup held in Chandigarh, began his match in style registering breaks of 64 and 60 in the first two frames. But dropping a couple of frames against his Punjab counterpart Shahid Ali, Imran finally emerged a 4-2 winner.
Atiq Latif Bux, a trifle unlucky to lose the final of the Style Snooker ranking tournament, registered breaks of 45 and 67 on his way to a 4-0 victory against NWFP's Wajid Khan.
Surprisingly the sixth seed Vishan Gir failed to make his appearance at the playing venue on the opening day and his opponent Mohammad Amin was awarded a walkover. The same can be said about Punjab's Imran Mughal. His opponent Kamran Shah was awarded a walkover.
The evergreen Mohammad Akhlas, the oldest player presently playing in the ranking circuit was in fine fettle, swamping his younger opponent M. Imtiaz Tipu by a 4-0 scoreline.
In an exciting match that went the distance, Raees Khan finally prevailed over Mohammad Nazir 4-3 and Saqib Butt helped on with breaks of 41 and 40, had to work up a sweat before overcoming Masood Ahmed 4-2.
Making a fine start grabbing the first frame helped on with a break of 60, Punjab's promising Shehram Changezi's game wilted away, going down 1-4 to another promising youngster Abu Saim, who reached the pre-quarterfinals during the Asian championship held in Karachi a few years ago, representing Pakistan for the very first time.
NWFP' Shah Khan was ruthless in his approach while toppling Shakir Rafiq 4-1, and Minhas Malik, formerly ranked amongst the top eight, scored a 4-1 triumph over Balochistan's Janan Khan. The second round of matches continue at the same venue on Monday from 10.00 a.m.
