March 26, 2006	Sunday	Safar 25, 1427

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KARACHI, March 25: Qualifiers Irfan Rasheed Khan and Mesam Zaidi, both from Sindh, knocked out ranking cueists Imtiaz Tipu and Minhas Malik while third seed Naveen Perwani survived a scare before overcoming NWFP’s Shah Khan in the 31st National snooker championship on Saturday.

Sindh Cup champion, Irfan, overcame ninth seed Imtiaz Tipu from Punjab in six frames the score being 49-27, 62-5, 45-74, 33-60, 66-30, 52-18.

Imtiaz seems to be out of form as this was his second defeat in four games which has ended his chances of making it to the knock out stage from group ‘H’. Earlier, he had tasted 1-4 defeat at the hands of Rambel Gul.

Mesam, Sindh Cup quarterfinalist, fought gallantly to inflict a 4-3 defeat to 13th seed, Minhas Malik, in the gruelling encounter. The score was 70-7, 60-26, 61-68, 17-64, 8-72, 61-40, 65-40.

Trailing 1-3 down, third seed Naveen Perwani recovered to beat fighting Shah Khan of NWFP 4-3 in the fully stretched battle. The former was home 3-47, 67-9, 11-73, 43-67, 55-50, 107-0, 88-34.

Sixth seed Imran Shehzad and seventh seed Khurram Agha also faced tough time at the hands of qualifiers Asif Haris and Nauman Awan before winning 4-2.

The top seeds, Mohammad Yousuf and Saleh Mohammad, maintained their unbeaten run when they downed Kamran Razzak and Mohammad Sadiq 4-0.

Results:

Salman Shaikh (Sindh) bt Tahir Rasheed (Pun) 4-3 (70-27, 72-1, 38-53, 37-64, 79-48, 48-65, 65-23); Saqib Butt (Pun) bt Hamid Bata (NWFP) 4-1 (61-29, 50-24, 36-53, 48-6, 62-16); Mohammad Asif (Pun) bt Jan Ali (Bal) 4-0 (86-16, 71-17, 66-36, 67-31); Irfan Rasheed Khan (Sindh) bt Imtiaz Tipu (Pun) 4-2 (49-27, 62-5, 45-74, 33-60, 66-30, 52-18); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Raja Rashid (Pun) 4-2 (60-30, 65-15, 52-62, 69-24, 42-76, 71-18); Raees Khan (Pun) bt Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) 4-1 (47-68, 90-35, 68-8, 63-30, 78-27); Inam-ur-Rehman (NWFP) bt Mohammad Ali (Bal) 4-0 (53-22, 78-20, 52-12, 67-37); Mesam Zaidi (Sindh) bt Minhas Malik (Sindh) 4-3 (70-7, 60-26, 61-68, 17-64, 8-72, 61-40, 65-40); Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) bt Kashif Khan (Sindh) 4-1 (58-38, 45-55, 60-37, 48-39, 47-3); Imran Shehzad (Pun) bt Asif Haris (Pun) 4-2 (54-47, 2-65, 58-51, 17-59, 74-9, 64-35); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Nauman Awan (NWFP) 4-2 (40-66, 73-12, 37-61, 58-17, 63-36, 67-18); Shehram Changezi (Pun) bt Mustafa Hyder (Bal) 4-0 (66-25, 45-11, 64-39, 50-35); Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Ramran Razzak (Sindh) 4-0 (72-8, 73-1, 56-24, 49-16); Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Mohammad Sadiq (Pun) 4-0 (66-49, 64-39, 70-27, 110-0); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Shah Khan (NWFP) 4-3 (3-47, 67-9, 11-73, 43-67, 55-50, 107-0, 88-34); Abu Saim (Pun) bt Abdul Rehman (Bal) 4-1 (56-21, 54-33, 48-50, 56-11, 44-33).

Sunday’s fixtures: 10.00am: Mohammad Yousuf v Sohail Shehzad; Saleh Mohammad v Raees Khan; Naveen Perwani v Inamur Rehman; Abu Saim v Minhas Malik 12.00pm: Atif Latif Bux v Salman Shaikh; Imran Shehzad v Saqib Butt; Khurram Agha v Mohammad Asif; Shehram Changezi v Imtiaz Tipu 2.00pm: Raja Rashid v Khalid Khan; Mohammad Hussain v Taj Mohammad; Mohammad Ali v Jawed Ansari; Mesam Zaidi v Imran Qamar 4.00pm: Tahir Rasheed v Arshad Siddiq; Hamid Bata v Mehmood Khan; Jan Ali v Mohammad Akhlas ; Irfan Rasheed Khan v Imran Khan.