March 07, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 17, 1428

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KARACHI, March 6: Punjab’s Abu Saim, the ninth seed, strengthened his chances of making it to last 16 from group ‘H’ when he got past qualifier and province-mate Shafiq 4-1 in the 32nd National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Saim, the losing semi-finalist of last nationals, had beaten Hameedullah 4-0, Kamran Razzak 4-2 and Mahmood Khan 4-0 in the earlier three encounters. He dropped the first frame against Shafiq 39-74 only to win the next four in a row 72-53, 64-0, 63-10 and 55-1.

He is now drawn to face Sindh Cup winner Farrukh Usman and Salman Shaikh in the next two matches.

Similarly, tenth seed Vishan Gir also chalked up his fourth win by handing a convincing 4-0 defeat to Sindh qualifier Qasim Kamani in group ‘G’. The scores were 62-27, 85-7, 69-58 and 63-47.

Imtiz Tipu, the 14th seed, overcame a stiff opposition from Sindh qualifier Abdul Sattar in group ‘C’ on way to conjure up 4-3 victory – fourth in a row. He was home 60-20, 37-46, 114-1, 17-65, 85-5, 2-63 and 48-40.

Results:

Vishan Gir bt Qasim Kamani 4-0 (62-27, 85-7, 69-58, 63-47), Irfan R. Khan bt Nauman Awan 4-2 (62-29, 60-88, 57-62, 59-34, 90-27, 66-15), M. Imtiaz Tipu bt Abdul Sattar 4-3 (60-20, 37-46, 114-1, 17-65, 85-5, 2-63, 48-40), Syed Mesam Zaidi bt Amanullah 4-1 (first frame awarded to Amanullah, 61-23, 65-10, 63-28, 65-35), Abu Saim bt Shafiq 4-1 (39-74, 72-53, 64-0, 63-10, 55-1), Imran Qamar bt Abdul Rehman Waja 4-3 (59-27, 58-52, 69-25, 47-58, 35-55, 19-83, 46-40), Saqib Butt bt Awais Honey 4-0 (69-48, 53-52, 64-13, 60-29), Raees Khan bt Jahangir Khan 4-2 (67-3, 14-72, 50-53, 52-42, 51-30, 71-28), Mohammad Nazeer bt Sultan Ali 4-0 (70-21, 63-19, 71-1, 61-16), Kamran Shah bt Bilal Ahmed 4-3 (19-73, 71-33, 64-34, 23-71, 47-37, 36-51, 69-13), Shahid Shafiq bt Abdul Razzak Kakar 4-2 (64-19, 52-20, 29-67, 60-58, 37-61, 59-57), Mustafa Haider bt Mohammad Shahid 4-1 (First frame awarded to Mustafa, 39-70, 67-35, 65-15, 61-44), Farrukh Usman bt Hameedullah 4-2 (63-38, 80-33, 56-57, 63-16, 19-58, 57-39).

Wednesday’s fixtures:

Mohammad Asif v Mohammad Nazir, Khurram Agha v Balochistan No 2, Naveen Perwani v Shahid Shafiq, Rambel Gul v Balochistan No 1 at 10am; Salman Shaikh v Farrukh Usman, Mohammad Yousuf v Arshad Siddiq, Imran Shehzad v Kashif Khan, Sohail Shehzad v Sharjeel Mahmood at 12noon; Ziaur Rehman v Balochistan No 8, Jawed Ansari v Bilal Ahmed, Asad Pervaiz v Balochistan No 7, S. S. Shahani v Mohammad Shahid at 2pm; Balochistan No 4 v Hameedullah, Mohammad Afzal v Asim Ghani, Balochistan No 3 v Shah Khan, Shahram Changezi v Mohsin Raza at 4pm.