Snooker: Unseeded Saqib stuns Saleh to earn spot in pre-quarterfinal
KARACHI, Aug 30: Underdog Saqib Zia produced the biggest upset of the 14th national ranking snooker cup when he toppled Saleh Muhammad 4-3 but both advanced to the last-16 stage at Area Snooker Club on Tuesday.
Saqib, ranked 16th in the national rankings, took Saleh to full distance before carving out a great win. Saleh still finished on top in Group “A” while Saqib Zia finished second.
From pool Group “B” Muhammad Yousuf and Kashif Khan qualified for the pre-quarter final round.
Third seed Naveen Perwani after a surprise defeat on Monday, returned to top form to book his berth in last-16 by handing out 4-1 drubbing to Raees Khan. Naveen compiled three breaks of 65, 84 and 54. Kashif finished runner-up in Group “C”.
Imran Shahzad, seeded fourth made his entry into the pre-quarters with a clean slate by routing Muhammad Asif in four straight frames.
Abu Saim was the other player who scored third consecutive victory to emerge as Group “F” champion with a comfortable 4-1 win against Salman Shaikh.
Khurram Agha topped Group “H” and Shehram Changezi got runner-up slot.
Wednesday’s fixtures: Imran v Minhas Malik, Salman v Yousuf, Imtiaz Tipu v Kashif, Shehram v Saleh, Khurram Aga v M. Asif, Saqib v Naveen, Atiq v Sohail Shahzad, Irfan Rasheed Khan v Abu Saim.—APP