May 18, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1427

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KARACHI, May 17: Reigning national champion and top seed Khurram Agha chalked up a convincing 7-1 victory over Irfan R. Khan to cruise into quarterfinal of the Pakistan Cue Masters at the Karachi Club on Wednesday.

In the two other matches, second seed Imran Shehzad and third seed Abu Saim had to struggle in overcoming their respective opponent’s.

Shehzad beat Imran Qamar 7-4 while Saim defeated Mohammad Asif by the identical score line.

Earlier, Salman Shaikh got a walk over against fourth seed Saleh Mohammad who failed to turn up and left a bad taste.

The winners completed the quarterfinal lineup to be played on Thursday.

Khurram who captured his maiden national title earlier year enjoyed a complete grip over his opponent and dropped only one snooker frame in his triumph.

He was home 59-15, 77-4, 63-10, 46-51, 50-19, 51-20, 2-0.

Second seed Imran, the losing finalist of national’s, had an unimpressive start losing the opening snooker frame 52-56 despite cracking a break of 49.

He recovered and raced on to take a 5-1 lead by pocketing the three snooker frames followed by two of billiards. He then conceded three frames in pool before grabbing two required to win the battle.

The scores were 52-56, 77-0, 67-15, 65-8, 53-11, 51-37, 2-3.

Saim took a 2-0 lead winning the opening two frames 69-62, 64-9 before his opponent reduced the deficit taking the next 67-31. The former won the fourth frame 60-18 to surge 3-1 ahead.

Saim conceded the opening frame of billiards 49-53 before grabbing the second 50-30 to take his lead to 4-2. Finally, he rounded off the match by picking up the three pool frames besides dropping two.

Results:

(First round): Salman Shaikh w/o Saleh Mohammad; Abu Saim bt Mohammad Asif 7-4 Snooker (69-62, 64-9, 31-67, 60-18); Billiards (49-53, 50-30); Pool (3-2); Imran Shahzad bt Imran Qamar 7-4 Snooker (52-56, 77-0, 67-15, 65-8); Billiards (53-11, 51-37); Pool (2-3); Khurram Agha bt Irfan R. Khan 7-1 Snooker (59-15, 77-4, 63-10, 46-51); Billiards (50-19, 51-20); Pool (2-0)

Thursday’s fixtures: (Quarterfinals): 10.00am: Sohail Shehzad v Salman Shaikh; 12.00pm: Abu Saim v Atiq Latif Bux; 2.00pm: Rambel Gul v Imran Shehzad; 4.00pm: Khurram Agha v Mohammad Yousuf.