June 20, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1427

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KARACHI, June 19: The winning streak of promising Atiq Latif Bux came to a halt on Monday when he fell prey to Salman Shaikh 5-3 making exit in the pre-quarterfinals of the 10th Style snooker tournament at Karachi Gymkhana.

He became the second seeded cueist after Vishan Gir to make early elimination from the contest.

Salman won the best of nine frames battle 68-6, 65-24, 50-64, 79-1, 39-70, 54-40, 43-68, 61-54 to book a berth in last eight.

Joining him in quarterfinals were top seed Khurram Agha, second seed Imran Shahzad, Sohail Shehzad, Naveen Perwani, Rambel Gul, Mohammad Yousuf and Saqib Butt.

The quarterfinals will be played on Tuesday at 10.00am to be followed by the semifinals in the afternoon at 3.00pm. The final is to be played on Wednesday.

Khurram and Naveen were given tough time by their opponent’s and their matches went to full distance.

Khurram enjoyed an upper hand against third seed Abu Saim taking 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 lead only to see the latter leveling 4-4. Finally, Khurram won the decisive frame to win the battle. The scores were: 56-3, 55-16, 29-61, 0-67, 62-37, 40-71, 63-28, 9-76, 63-50.

On the other hand, Naveen was supposed to win 5-1 after taking commendable 4-1 lead against 15th seed Mohammad Asif. In the sixth frame, he lost his concentration and conceded three frames in a row which brought the two players on even kneel.

However, he recovered to grab the last frame. The scores were: 63-31, 49-57, 90-46, 65-40, 73-29, 46-70, 39-53, 50-54, 75-48.

Second seed Imran Shehzad chalked up a convincing 5-0 victory over low ranked Danish Karim.

Results (pre-quarterfinals):

Saqib Butt (Pun) bt Imtiaz Tipu (Pun) 5-1 (36-47, 78-48, 58-46, 64-24, 72-24, 58-57); Imran Shahzad (Pun) bt Danish Karim (Sindh) 5-0 (61-55, 72-23, 84-1, 68-49, 60-45); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Riaz (Sindh) 5-3 (66-28, 59-40, 70-35, 65-29, 23-59, 23-63, 8-61, 83-14); Salman Shaikh (Sindh) bt Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) 5-3 (68-6, 65-24, 50-64, 79-1, 39-70, 54-40, 43-68, 61-54);Rambel Gul (NWFP) bt Mohammad Akhlas (Sindh) 5-3 (59-13, 35-74, 38-74, 62-28, 20-59, 60-5, 62-6, 58-29); Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Mesam Zaidi (Sindh) 5-3 (18-56, 12-53, 99-11, 60-0, 57-49, 43-54, 58-32, 56-36); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif (Pun) 5-4 (63-31, 49-57, 90-46, 65-40, 73-29, 46-70, 39-53, 50-54, 75-48); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Abu Saim (Pun) 5-4 (56-3, 55-16, 29-61, 0-67, 62-37, 40-71, 63-28, 9-76, 63-50).

Tuesday’s fixtures: (quarterfinals): 10.00am: Imran Shahzad v Salman Shaikh; Saqib Butt v Sohail Shehzad; Mohammad Yousuf v Khurram Agha; Rambel Gul v Naveen Perwani. 3.00pm: (semifinals).