May 11, 2005	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1426

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KARACHI, May 10: Abu Saim and M. Imtiaz Tipu booked their berths in the last 16 of the 9th Ranking snooker championship, after disposing off their respective opponents at Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Seeded at No.9, Abu beat the defending champion Rambel Gul 4-2, while Imtiaz had a much easier encounter, winning all his three matches by 4-0 margins. This time Kashif Khan was the victim, after winning his first two matches in his group.

Imtiaz will now take on fifth seed Amit Latif Bux for the leadership in Group E. Amit has won two and lost one match. Also with one loss and two wins in the same group is Kashif Khan, who meets Zahid Junejo in his last qualifying round.

Atiq has to win. If he loses to Imtiaz and Kashif beats Zahid, it will be Kashif booking a place in the last 16.

Former eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti after winning his two opening matches was beaten by Mohammad Asif, who has already qualified from Group F.

However, Shakeel who upset sixth seed Saqib Butt on Monday has to win his last match to make it through to the knockout round. Saqib on the other hand is the first seeded player in danger of bowing out of the tournament.

Top seed Saleh Mohammad was out of action on Tuesday, but with victories in all his three matches, is in the last 16 and most probably will be joined by the left-handed Sohail Shehzad, who beat Amit Perwani in a nailbiting 4-3 triumph.

Farhan Noor’s chances of reaching the knockout round received a severe jolt when he was beaten by Nadeem Rasheed by a surprising 4-0 margin. Farhan meets second seed Naveen Perwani on Wednesday.

Abid Salim handed out a 4-0 defeat to Farrukh Usman, who seemed completely out of touch in this tournament.

Also winning by 4-0 margins were Arshad Siddiq against M. Shehzad, Minhas Malik, who also qualified breezing past Vishan Gir, and Shah Khan against Kamran Shah.

In a see-saw tussle Mohammad Baqar got the better of Kamran Razzak 4-3. In another cliff hanger, Saqib Zia beat Shadab Baig. Salman Shaikh made his chances easier of reaching the last 16, by dowing Qamar Khan 4-2.

In other matches played, Waqas Malik beat Naseem Paracha 4-1, Mohammad Nazir beat Shahid Shafiq 4-1, Mohammad Nazir beat Shahid Shafiq and Zahid Junejo beat Shakir Rafiq, also by a 4-1 scorelines and Raees Khan beat Mesam Zaidi 4-2.

FOURTH DAY’S RESULTS:

Waqas Malik (Sindh) bt Naseem Paracha (Sindh) 4-1: 61/49, 23/52, 70/63, 59/14. Waqas was awarded the first frame when Naseem came late for his match. Abid Salim (Punjab) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-0: 55/51, 70/27, 73/17, 70/60. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) bt Shahid Shafiq (Punjab) 4-1: 78/12, 65/28, 64/29, 9/54, 50/37. Zahid Junejo (Sindh) bt Shakir Rafiq (Sindh) 4-1: 75/42, 79/24, 17/48, 66/18, 78/23. Raees Khan (Punjab) bt Mesam Zaidi (Sindh) 4-2: 55/7, 66/29, 29/45, 56/67, 55/28, 57/32. Saqib Zia (Sindh) bt Shahdab Baig 4-3: 51/15, 56/15, 73/36, 12/74, 2/65, 41/67, 66/48. Arshad Siddiq (NWFP) bt M. Shehzad (Punjab) 4-0: 54/11, 60/46, 52/44, 68/24. Mohammad Baqar (Sindh) bt Kamran Razzak (Sindh) 4-3: 52/50, 66/23, 38/66, 31/88, 50/65, 50/38, 76/49. Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 4-1: 5/57, 72/42, 68/60, 58/10, 83/5. Minhas Malik (Sindh) bt Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-0: 42/41, 58/23, 81/67, 69/24. Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Rambel Gul (NWFP) 4-2: 36/57, 60/28, 93/1, 78/1, 40/60, 73/31. M. Imtiaz Tipu (Punjab) bt Kashif Khan (Sindh) 4-0: 68/54, 61/35, 62/31, 83/2. Nadeem Rasheed (Punjab) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-1: 1/59, 67/9, 67/56, 47/41, 52/40.Shah Khan (NWFP) bt Kamran Shah (Balochistan) 4-0: 65/43, 48/14, 62/31, 66/22. Salman Sheikh (Sindh) bt Qamar Khan (NWFP) 4-2: 621/49, 65/53, 7/67, 59/27, 48/58, 66/18. Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Amit Parwani 4-3: 80/19, 1/64, 91/23, 56/18, 39/72, 41/65 And 65/38.