KARACHI, Sept 14: Abu Saim, Atiq Latif Bux and Rambel Gul moved closer to a berth in the semifinals, after each one of them came through with two winners on Tuesday in the 18th Latif Masters Top 16 Snooker League played at the Karachi Club on Tuesday.
Abu the hot favourite to reach the last four continued his winning streak demolishing Mohammad Akhlas and Minhas Malik 4-1 and 4-0. The youngster from Sialkot chalked up a break of 52 against Akhlas in the opening frame.
Atiq came through with hard earned 4-3 triumphs over third seed Mohammad Yousuf and second seed Saleh Mohammad. Atiq took the first two frames against Yousuf, but the wily former world champion fought his way back to level the frame scores 2-2.
Atiq pinched the fifth frame 62/51 to forge ahead 3-2, only to see Yousuf storming back into contention with a break of 81. Both the cueists adopted safety first tactics in the final frame, waiting anxiously to swoop down on the other's error.
The error finally came Atiq's way and continuing to kept the score moving with every visit to the table, won the frame 81/30 and scrape through a 4-3 winner. Saleh, the second seed took a commanding lead against Atiq, but the latter sinking the coloured balls from yellow to pink, missed the black with a hasty shot. Saleh calmly potted black and picked up the first frame 70/66.
Continuing to play attacking snooker Saleh was soon 2-0 ahead and seemed to be racing for victory having a healthy lead of 38 points in the third frame. But from here the tide changed course.
With a splendid clearance of 40 Atiq grabbed the third frame 59/54 then levelled the scores 2-2 with another 40 points on the trot. Growing in confidence Atiq had Saleh on the ropes again taking over the lead 3-2. Saleh stung into action bounced back levelling the frame scores, notching up a break of 54 points.
In the final frame Atiq got off to a good start scoring 30 points on is first visit to the table, and with another 48 points added to his total on is next two visits was racing away to victory 78/0.
Saleh aware that he was doomed for defeat and after scoring 16 points threw in the towel with one red and the coloured balls on the table. Rambel, unknown a year ago, proved to many that he was the new rising star on the horizon, when he beat Mohammad Asif 4-1, helped on with a break of 42 in the opening frame and then set the cat amongst the pigeons, while lowering the colours of Sher Khan also by the same score.
Fourth seed Naveen Perwani sitting pretty on top of Group A, winning his first four matches finally tasted his first defeat at the hands of sixth seed Imran Shehzad 4-1, but he did keep his chances alive of making it through the semifinals, by overcoming the keen challenge of Mohammad Nazir 4-2.
But Imran's chances of reaching the last four took a turn for the worst when he went down to top seed Khurram Hussain Agha 4-1, although having breaks of 71 and 39. Khurram hit back with breaks of 31, 58 and 67.
Khurram the defending champion made his chances brighter of reaching the last four stage, by toppling Mohammad Nazir 4-1, laced with two fine breaks of 95 and 50. Nazir replied with a break of 52 in the third frame.
Last year's runner-up Amit Parwani continued with his miseries in this tournament losing five out of his six matches played to date. On Tuesday he went down 2-4 to Sher Khan and met the same fate later in the evening at the hands of Asif by the same score line.
Another player on the road to defeat was Vishan Gir, winning only two of his six matches played so far. On Tuesday, Vishan lost to Saleh 4-2 and then later leading Yousuf 3-2, muffed up his chance to win the match, making so many uncalled errors with Yousuf in deficit by 36 points in the sixth frame. The former world champion fought his way back and came through a 4-3 winner.
The former No.8 seed Shakeel Bhatti has also had a miserable tournament losing five of his six matches. Although he had his first victory on Tuesday morning where he beat Minhas Malik 4-3, Shakeel leading 3-1 against Akhlas let the game slip out of hands as Akhlas scoring his second victory in the tournament emerged a 4-3 winner.
In Group A, Rambel Gul with a +12 frame looks certain to go through to the semifinals with one more match to be played against Amit. Khurram also has a +12 frame advantage, but then again he has to play fourth seed Naveen Perwani in his last match. Naveen has a plus eight frame advantage. Whosoever wins this vital encounter, will slip through to the semifinal.
In Group B, Abu Saim is the hot favourite to reach the last four with a +11 frame advantage, and meets lowly placed Shakeel in his last round robin encounter. Atiq has +10 and he takes on Minhas who has only won one match so far.
For the heavy guns Yousuf and Saleh winning four and losing two matches apiece, will have to be satisfied to fight for the spoils for the fifth and sixth berths. The two meet on Wednesday at 2.00pm.
TUESDAY RESULTS:
Rambel Gul bt Moammad Asif 4-1: 55/7, 56/55, 55/56, 74/23, 72/16; Imran Shehzad bt Naveen Perwani 4-1: 84/11, 6/73, 74/28, 80/15, 72/15; Khurram Hussain Agha bt Mohammad Nazir 4-1: 77/3, 73/15, 51/62, 129/13, 59/17;. Shah Khan bt Amit Parwani 4-2: 62/42, 3/64, 23/60, 80/32, 59/45, 69/26; Abu Saim bt Mohammad Akhlas 4-1: 85/12, 56/53, 52/70, 66/26, 63/34; Atiq Latif Bux bt Mohammad Yousuf 4-3: 65/52, 81/51, 9/56, 41/66, 62/51, 8/81, 81/30; Saleh Mohammad bt Vishan Gir 4-2: 44/65, 67/10, 96/4, 64/50, 34/64, 83/29; Shakeel Bhatti bt Minhas Malik 58/31, 33/65, 83/41, 29/64, 23/52, 76/22, 78/15; Rambel Gul bt Sher Khan 4-1: 67/26, 68/29, 2/57, 77/9, 76/19; Naveen Perwani bt Mohammad Nazir 4-2: 64/52, 58/66, 72/41, 80/54, 15/59, 61/39. Khurram Hussain Agha bt Imran Shehzad 4-1: 52/25, 0/85, 62/49, 77/23, 76/14; Mohammad Asif bt Amit Parwani 4-2: 43/52, 57/23, 62/49, 61/9, 21/74, 52/18; Abu Saim bt Minhas Malik 4-0: 54/44, 61/48, 76/53, 72/32; Mohammad Yousuf bt Vishan Gir 4-3: 35/65, 63/37, 14/99, 65/40, 42/69, 63/49, 70/41; Atiq Latif Bux bt Saleh Mohammad 4-3: 66/70, 14/76, 59/54, 69/24, 71/45, 26/71, 78/16; Mohammad Akhlas bt Shakeel Bhatti 4-3: 14/69, 64/45, 29/67, 47/58, 56/51, 68/46, 75/17.
