March 09, 2007	Friday	Safar 19, 1428

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KARACHI, March 8: The trend of walkovers is on the rise in the baize game which is evident from the ongoing 32nd National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana.

Thursday being the eighth day of league matches witnessed third walkover as Balochistan’s Jahangir Khan earned full points after his opponent NWFP’s Amar failed to turn up to play his group ‘F’ match at 12noon.

Earlier, the same player stayed away from his match against Sharjeel Mahmood on Monday and on the same day former national champion, Farhan Mirza, rested against Arshad Siddiq citing illness.

Amar had lost his first two matches to Sohail Shehzad and Raees Khan by identical margin of 0-4. It is yet to be seen whether he plays his remaining two fixtures or continue with his casual attitude.

Punjab’s qualifier Atif Mughal has so far proved to be pick of the championship as he conjured up fourth straight win to ensure a berth in last 16 from group ‘E’. He notched up a 4-1 victory against Amanullah to maintain a clean slate. The scores were 74-45, 59-14, 35-54, 70-6 and 57-49.

He has humbled fifth seed Rambel Gul, 12th seed Mesam Zaidi and Mustafa Haider in the earlier matches.

Three more experienced players – 9th seed Abu Saim, 10th seed Vishan Gir and 14th seed Imtiaz Tipu also propelled in the pre quarter-finals by registering fifth straight wins.

Saim edged past Farrukh Usman 4-2, Vishan blanked Mohammad Nazeer 4-0 while Imtiaz disposed off Shahid Shafiq 4-1. The three plays their last league match on Saturday.

Results:

Naseem Paracha bt Qasim Kamani 4-2 (67-55, 43-41, 1-67, 49-61, 58-53, 54-42), Mohammad Riaz bt Nauman Awan 4-1 (74-37, 39-50, 78-41, 60-45, 50-25), Abdul Sattar bt Abdul Jalil 4-0 (56-46, 53-14, 74-14, 66-24), Atif Mughal bt Amanullah 4-1 (74-45, 59-14, 35-54, 70-6, 57-49), Kamran Razzak bt Shafiq 4-0 (66-56, 70-3, 67-20, 44-22), Abdul Rehman Waja bt Farhan Mirza 4-3 (58-34, 62-56, 29-71, 24-85, 56-44, 23-76, 51-29), Awais Honey bt Mohammad Ali Zaidi 4-2 (66-2, 30-87, 33-61, 61-8, 57-39, 55-15), Jahangir Khan w/o Amar, Vishan Gir bt Mohammad Nazeer 4-0 (70-59, 71-0, 75-19, 98-5), Irfan R. Khan bt Kamran Shah 4-3 (21-51, 59-33, 72-43, 65-44, 1-68, 16-50, 67-26), M. Imtiaz Tipu bt Shahid Shafiq 4-1 (64-27, 73-36, 67-40, 25-51, 57-45), Syed Mesam Zaidi bt Mustafa Haider 4-3 (44-85, 38-64, 60-37, 56-49, 45-59, 52-39, 77-49), Abu Saim bt Farrukh Usman 4-2 (61-34, 87-1, 36-70, 67-65, 32-56, 64-53).

Friday’s fixtures:

Qasim Kamani v Balochistan No 8, Nauman Awan v Bilal Ahmed, Abdul Sattar v Balochistan No 7, Amanullah v Mohammad Shahid at 10am; Shafiq v Hameedullah, Balochistan No 6 v Asim Ghani, Awais Honey v Shah Khan, Balochistan No 5 v Mohsin Raza at 12noon; Ziaur Rehman v Nasim Paracha, Jawed Ansari v Mohammad Riaz, Asad Pervaiz v Abdul Jalil, S. S. Shahani v Atif Mughal 2pm; Balochistan No 4 v Kamran Razzak, Mohammad Afzal v Farhan Mirza, Balochistan No 3 v Mohammad Ali Zaidi, Shahram Changezi v Ammar at 4pm.