May 10, 2005	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1426

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KARACHI, May 9: Pakistan No.4 Imran Shehzad, stole the limelight on the third day of the 9th ranking snooker championship 2005, routing Qamar Khan 4-1 with stylish breaks of 44 and 59 in the opening frame, 48 and 79 in the fourth and reserved his best for the final, chalking up a break of 121, at the Karachi Gymkhana on Monday. After beating counterpart M. Shehzad 4-0 on the opening day laced with fluent breaks of 50, 42 and 75, Imran survived a narrow 4-3 escape against Arshad Siddiq, winning the final frame 64/51 helped on with a break of 54.

However on Monday, Imran was once again in top gear sounding a loud warning to the top three seeds in the tournament.

Second seed Naveen Perwani also survived a scare on Sunday, before he overcame Raees Khan from Punjab 4-3. He too bounced back into contention, handing out a 4-0 victory over Nadeem Rasheed.

Top seed Saleh Mohammad, dropped two frames against Sohail Shehzad, who credited himself with a fine break of 55 in the third frame.

Third seed Mohammad Yousuf also kept his slate clean, disposing off the Shah Khan 4-2 with splendid breaks of 74 and 54 in the first two frames. After winning his first two games by 4-0 margins, fifth seed Atiq Latif Bux was on course for another 4-0 triumph, leading Kashif Khan 3-0.

But suddenly for reasons better known to him, Atiq’s game took a change for the worse, losing the last four frames meekly 60/1, 72/26, 82/51, 66/8, after Kashif staged a magnificent recovery.

Defending champion Rambel Gul after a shock 4-3 defeat at the hands of Shahid Shafiq, kept his slim hopes alive for qualifying for the last 16 by toppling eighth seed Shehram Changezi 4-2.

In Group H Abu Saim was perched on top, registering his second straight victory beating Shahid Shafiq 4-2.

But Abu now has a steep mountain to climb before he qualifies for the knock out rounds. He has to meet Shehram and Rambel in his two remaining matches.

Abu only needs to win one of these two to make it through in the toughest Group in the tournament.

Former eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti down the ladder at No.19, also had a great chance of reaching the last 16, upsetting sixth seed Saqib Butt 4-2, with 57 points on the trot in the final frame.

Saqib losing his second match in three outings seems to be the first seed to bow out of the tournament.

Seventh seed Inamur Rehman, who lost his opening match to Abid Salim 4-0, now seems to be in a better frame of mind after beating Farrukh Usman and the dangerous Vishan Gir by 4-2 margins in Group B.

Talented youngster Mohammad Imtiaz Tipu continued his winning spree with another 4-0 triumph, this time over Shakir Rafiq. The latter losing his third straight match is also out of the tournament.

Amit Parwani after winning his opening match on the first day with relative ease, made heavy weather of the proceedings, going down to Mohammad Baqar 4-2.

Tenth seed Minhas Malik kept his chances alive with another 4-2 victory, this time against Abid Salim.

After Abid had a break of 52 in the second frame, Minhas came back strongly with breaks of 45 and 37 in the fifth and sixth frames.

Also on the way to the last 16 was Mohammad Asif, with a 4-1 victory over Naseem Peracha. Salman Shaikh, with a fine break of 76, handed out a 4-0 defeat to M. Shehzad, the second player to date to bow out of the tournament.

Saqib Zia, surprised Kamran Shah also by a 4-0 margin, while Farhan Noor kept his chances alive with a 4-1 victory over Mesam Zaidi.

THIRD DAY RESULTS: Saqib Zia (Sindh) bt Kamran Shah (Balochistan) 4-0: 52/36, 43/15, 45/22, 63/27. Salman Sheikh (Sindh) bt M. Shehzad (Punjab) 4-0 : 54/53, 62/39, 76/44, 59/31. Mohammad Baqar (Sindh) bt Amit Parwani (Sindh) 4-2: 96/6, 2/64, 76/15, 46/67, 73/9, 53/40. Farhan Noor (Punjab) bt Mesam Zaidi (Sindh) 4-1: 43/70, 59/28, 75/16, 60/22, 74/66. Minhas Malik (Sindh) bt Abid Salim (Punjab) 4-2: 74/25, 44/58, 17/73, 70/30, 61/37, 62/53. Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Shahid Shafiq (Punjab) 4-2: 58/10, 38/66, 67/31, 62/69, 76/8, 54/34. Mohammad Imtiaz Tipu (Punjab) bt Shakjir Rafiq (Sindh) 4-0: 66/6, 56/27, 57/36, 55/22. Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Naseem Paracha (Sindh) 4-1: 6/58, 56/44, 63/16,66/10, 62/34. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Shah Khan (NWFP) 4-2: 107/7, 67/27, 38/67, 70/42, 57/70, 64/14. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Qamar Khan (NWFP) 4-1: 105/11, 43/70, 54/34, 131/5, 122/6. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-2: 71/46, 28/81, 72/65, 70/33, 55/66, 77/47. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Nadeem Rasheed (Punjab) 4-0: 67/18, 68/38, 51/37, 60/17, Inam Ur Rehman (NWFP) bt Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-2:60/68, 56/65, 61/22, 60/12, 73/45, 64/49. Rambel Gul (NWFP) bt Shehram Changzei 4-2: 62/21, 56/57, 60/59, 5/55, 11/83, 49/40. Kashif Khan (Sindh) bt Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) 4-3: 31/72, 34/67, 5/64, 60/1, 72/26, 82/51, 66/8. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) bt Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-2: 52/23, 19/74, 93/20, 14/68, 90/61, 59/16.