KARACHI, July 27: Former world and Asian amateur champion Mohammad Yousuf silenced his critics once again, chalking up a brilliant 126 clearance against another veteran Mohammad Akhlas on the last day of the qualifying rounds in the Snooker Cup played on Tuesday at the Snooker Area parlour in Gizri.

The national champion sounded a stern warning to many of the young pretenders, that he still has the desire to bring out his best, registering his third successive 4-0 triumph in the qualifiers, swamping Mohammad Akhlas to grab the top spot in Group B. Yousuf was the only cueist in the qualifiers who did not drop a frame.

Both Yousuf and Akhlas registered 4-0 victories in their two previous outings. Although Akhlas went down 4-0, he did have his chances to grab a couple of frames. Akhlas however finished second in Group B and along with Yousuf booked his berth in the last 16.

Another cueist that chalked up a century break on Tuesday was fourth seeded Imran Shehzad, scoring 122 points on the trot before missing a fairly easy pink in the third pocket which would have enabled him to register the highest break of the tournament.

But this splendid break seemed to be all in vain. Imran lost 4-3 to Sindh's Minhas Malik, who in the process perched himself on top of Group D. Although suffering his first defeat in the tournament, Imran along with Minhas, went through to the last 16.

Top seed Khurram Hussain Agha, receiving a walkover against Imran Mughal, was also through to the knockout stage from Group A and was joined by Balochistan's Kamran Shah, who edged out Mukhtar Khan 4-3.

Third seed Saleh Mohammad continued with his tremendous form, brushing aside Punjab's Saqib Butt 4-0, with sparkling breaks of 59 and 81 in the second frame and followed it up with 37 and 36 in the next.

Joining Saleh was Sindh's Masood Ahmed, who sneaked in through the back door, sounding a 4-0 defeat to Kamran Razzak, who until Monday night seemed a firm entry into the pre-quarterfinals.

Masood lost his first two matches and nobody gave him a ghost of a chance to qualify. But the young lad reserved his best for his final match which enabled him to grab the second spot in his Group with a minus two frame advantage.

Fifth seed Latif Amir Bux kept up his unbeaten record in the tournament, breezing past NWFP's Shah Khan 4-1, in a match to decide the winner and runner-up in Group E. Latif was helped on to victory with fine breaks of 51, 56 and 46.

Eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti also made his exit after suffering a 4-2 defeat to Punjab's Mohammad Nazir. Nazir winning his last two matches after being shocked by Raees Khan 4-3 on the opening day, finished with two points apiece with Sindh's Farrukh Usman, who edged out Raees Khan 4-3.

The winner moved ahead into the knockout rounds. Nazir however topped Group H with a plus five frame advantage to Farrukh's plus one. Faisalabad's Mohammad Asif winning two matches and getting a walkover in the other, topped Group F, after beating Mohammad Amin 4-2 with two fine breaks of 52 and 62.

He was joined by Rambel Gul in the pre-quarterfinals, after he was awarded a walkover against Vishan Gir. Amit Parwani losing his first two matches failed to turn up at the venue for his final match against Abu Saim from Group G. This uncalled for behaviour especially by a Pakistan ranking player was conduct unbecoming.

In this group Punjab's Shehram Changezi took the second spot after accounting for Shahid Ilyas 4-1. In two other matches played, Punjab's Shahid Ali registered his first victory in the tournament beating Balochistan's Janan Khan 4-3. The same could be said about NWFP's Wajed Khan, who downed Sindh's Shakir Rafiq by a 4-2 score line.

In the new draws held for the knockout stages, Mohammed Yousuf was ranked as No.1, Abu Saim No.2, Saleh Mohammad No.3, Atiq Latif Bux No.4, Khurram Hussain Agha No.5, Minhas Malik No.6, Mohammad Asif No.7 and Mohammad Nazir No.8.

FOLLOWING IS THE LINEUP FOR WEDNESDAY'S PRE-QUARTERFINALS.