March 07, 2008	Friday	Safar 28, 1429

KARACHI, March 6: Five cueists from Punjab and three from Sindh on Thursday stormed into the quarter-finals of the National Juniors Snooker Championship at the end of league matches at the Karachi Club.

The Punjab quintet, who made it to the last-eight round, includes Mohammad Imran, Ayaz Khan, Mohammad Afzal, Ahsan Javed and Tahir Abbas. The Sindh players who forge ahead are Azeem Yousuf, Agha Bilawal Raza and Ahad Ali Khan.

Except for Imran versus Ayaz match, the other three quarter-finals will be an all Punjab-Sindh affair.

The quarter-finals which will be of best-of-seven frames begins at 10.00am on Friday. They will be followed by best-of-seven frames semi-finals in the afternoon at 3.00pm.The final to be contested on best-of-nine frames will be played on Saturday.

Results:

Abdul Basit (Sindh) bt Ahsan Raza (Sindh) 3-1 (40-38, 67-0, 36-63, 42-23); Agha Bilawal Raza (Sindh) bt Salman Ahmed Siddiqui (Sindh) 3-0 (54-35, 74-16, 49-32); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Ahad Ali Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (70-43, 32-55, 58-27, 55-33); Tahir Abbas (Punjab) bt Mohammad Noman Qamar (Punjab) 3-2 (18-50, 79-6, 50-20, 43-67, 51-10); Ayaz Khan (Punjab) bt M. Hassan Anis (Sindh) – walkover; Hamid Younus (Punjab) bt Ahmed Shah (Balochistan) 3-0 (68-10, 53-25, 57-39); Mohammad Haseeb (Sindh) bt S. Abbas Rizvi (Sindh) – walkover; Haroon Anwar (NWFP) bt Mohammad Shahram (Sindh) 3-0 (first frame awarded to Haroon, 56-28, 68-28); Umair Alam Khan (Sindh) bt Abdul Basit (Sindh) 3-0 (40-17, 73-13, 58-16); Agha Bilawal Raza (Sindh) bt Mohammad Afzal (Punjab) 3-2 (13-67, 0-80, 57-44, 66-41, 82-1); Ahad Ali Khan (Sindh) bt Asim Khan (NWFP) 3-0 (70-27, 53-10, 63-44); Tahir Abbas (Punjab) bt Abdul Ghafoor (Balochistan) 3-1 (63-16, 60-32, 13-40, 60-47).

Friday’s fixtures (quarter-finals):

Mohammad Imran (Punjab) v Ayaz Khan (Punjab); Azeem Yousuf (Sindh) v Mohammad Afzal (Punjab); Ahsan Javed (Punjab) v Agha Bilawal Raza (Sindh); Ahad Ali Khan (Sindh) v Tahir Abbas (Punjab) at 10.00am.