March 06, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 16, 1428

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KARACHI, March 5: Qualifier Shahram Changezi stunned sixth seed Sohail Shehzad straight 4-0 in the 32nd National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Monday.

He is the third seeded player after Rambel Gul (5th) and Mesam Zaidi (12th) to fell prey at the hands of low profile cueists in the event.

The Punjab No 4, Shahram, was impressive in his 75-18, 68-34, 53-11 and 73-43 win over Sohail.

After tasting three astonishing defeats in a row, NWFP’s Rambel Gul notched up his first win when he overcame Sunil S. Shahani 4-1 in group ‘E’. He is out of contention for making it to the knock out stage from his group.

Veteran Mohammad Yousuf had to struggle to maintain clean slate handing 4-3 defeat to Punjab’s Mohammad Afzal. Yousuf was home 79-22, 28-51, 106-0, 75-0, 58-60, 55-70 and 60-44.

Other seeded players including Khurram Agha, Naveen Perwani and Imran Shehzad won their matches with ease.

Reigning national champion, Khurram whipped Jawed Ansari 4-0 to register fourth straight win. Reigning Latif Masters champion, Naveen, defeated Asad Pervaiz by identical margin of 4-0 while Imran Shehzad, losing finalist of last nationals, won 4-1.

A walkover by NWFP’s qualifier Amar against province-mate Sharjeel Mahmood left a bad taste.

Similarly, Farhan Mirza conceded his match to Arshad Siddiq citing illness. He had lost the previous two matches also. His casual performance has raised quite a few eye brows on his selection in Pakistan team for the recently held Doha Asian Games where the team performed miserably and returned empty-handed.

Results:

Mohammad Nazeer bt Naseem Paracha 4-3 (49-15, 1-85, 22-55, 57-56, 63-40, 3-56, 79-13), Mohammad Riaz bt Kamran Shah 4-0 (58-18, 85-8, 78-7, 32-1), Shahid Shafiq bt Abdul Jalil 4-0 (68-22, 80-10, 61-26, 71-38), Atif Mughal bt Mustafa Haider 4-1 (71-6, 61-39, 50-51, 68-44, 49-12), Farrukh Usman bt Kamran Razzak 4-1 (64-12, 81-19, 64-24, 0-80, 68-56), Arshad Siddiq declared 4-0 winner against Farhan Mirza who conceded, Kashif Khan bt Mohammad Ali Zaidi 4-3 (18-72, 59-28, 62-69, 67-15, 19-77, 79-16, 69-22), Sharjeel Mahmood w/o Amar, Mohammad Asif bt Ziaur Rehman 4-0 (62-34, 82-0, 76-15, 64-2), Khurram Agha bt Jawed Ansari 4-0 (77-25, 73-13, 62-19, 70-20), Naveen Perwani bt Asad Pervaiz 4-0 (48-34, 76-1, 71-25, 66-5), Rambel Gul bt Sunil S. Shahani 4-1 (34-65, 70-7, 60-37, 79-2, 61-48), Mohammad Yousuf bt Mohammad Afzal 4-3 (79-22, 28-51, 106-0, 75-0, 58-60, 55-70, 60-44), Imran Shehzad bt Janan Khan 4-1 (14-88, 63-19, 67-5, 75-18, 66-11), Shahram Changezi bt Sohail Shehzad 4-0 (75-18, 68-34, 53-11, 73-43).

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Vishan Gir v Qasim Kamani, Irfan R. Khan v Nauman Awan, Imtiaz Tipu v Abdul Sattar, S. Mesam Zaidi v Amanullah at 10am; Abu Saim v Shafiq, Imran Qamar v Balochistan No 6, Saqib Butt v Awais Honey, Raees Khan v Balochistan No 5 at 12noon; Mohammad Nazir v Balochistan No 8, Balochistan No 2 v Bilal Ahmed, Shahid Shafiq v Balochistan No 7, Balochistan No 1 v Mohammad Shahid at 2pm; Farrukh Usman v Hameedullah, Arshad Siddiq v Asim Ghani, Kashif Khan v Shah Khan, Sharjeel Mahmood v Mohsin Raza at 4pm.