June 08, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1427

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KARACHI, June 7: Aneel Bherwani advanced into the semifinals of Karachi Club Open snooker challenge when he beat last year's runners-up Asim Ghani 4-2 in quarterfinals at Amir Bakhsh memorial billiards hall on Tuesday evening.

The match was tied two-all after four frames but experienced Bherwani, once ranked among the top ten cueist of the country, picked up the last two frames in a clinical display to enter last four stage.

Veteran Sarwar Siddiqui, a former Pakistan captain, carved out a fine break of 52 in the opening while racing to 4-0 win against Aamir Habib.

Bharat Sitiani produced a great fighting performance when he recovered from 0-2 down to overcame Ahad Ali Khan 4-2 after a keenly fought tussle.

In another quarterfinal holder Qassim Kamani dropped the penultimate frame before out-potting younger brother Baqar Kamani.

Eight quarterfinalists from the first phase will be joined by top eight nationally ranked cueists to feature in the main rounds of the competition.

Those, who will be participating in the second phase of the championship included reigning National champion Khurram Agha, Naveen Perwani, Sohail Shahzad, Vishan Gir, Mohammad Yousuf, Atiq Latif Bakhsh, Jawed Ansari and Salman Shaikh.

Results (quarterfinals)

Bharat Sitiani bt Ahad Ali Khan 68-74, 21-77, 58-11, 53-28, 63-28, 73-37; Dr.Aneel Bherwani bt Asim Ghani 64-33, 49-22, 07-65, 35-47, 48-45, 54-41; Qassim Kamani bt Baqar Kamani 78-42, 86-24, 58-67, 57-18, 82-01; Sarwar Siddiqui bt Aamir Habib 80-09, 67-06, 67-03, 64-35.—APP