March 16, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1429

KARACHI, March 15: Sindh’s 14th seed Sohail Shehzad on Saturday taught a lesson to Ahsan Javed, the runner-up of the recently-concluded national juniors, when he walked away with a convincing 4-0 victory on the opening day of the 33rd National Snooker Championship for Mazhar Iqbal Puri Trophy at Karachi Gymkhana.

Sohail won the best of seven frames group C opener 67-14, 62-34, 59-37, 93-9.

Similarly, Punjab’s 15th seed Mohammad Shahid had no difficulty in outwitting Sindh’s Waqas Malik 4-1 the score being 51-91, 70-46, 77-17, 91-1, 53-45.

Meanwhile, all the top guns including the defending champion Naveen Perwani are drawn to open their campaign on Sunday.

International Naveen claimed his maiden national crown imposing 6-3 victory over Vishan Gir in the final at the same venue last year.

Results:

Ali Daryab (Bal) bt Salman Shaikh (Sindh) 4-3 (59-40, 45-76, 34-72, 12-92, 61-41, 47-25, 65-47); Inamur Rehman (NWFP) bt Kamran Shah (Bal) 4-2 (9-65, 80-8, 41-59, 75-48, 81-16, 45-3); Saqib Butt (Pun) bt Arshad Siddiq (NWFP) 4-0 (53-40, 68-28, 77-30, 69-7); Ali Shahzad Butt (Pun) bt Qasim Kamani (Sindh) 4-3 (54-52, 52-67, 65-20, 36-69, 11-70, 51-24, 69-45); Mohammad Imran (Pun) bt Abdul Rauf Kurd (Bal) 4-3 (54-64, 64-29, 77-44, 37-51, 54-45, 33-58, 64-39); Nouman Awan (NWFP) bt Mohammad Ali (Bal) 4-0 (46-38, 64-35, 61-25, 63-5); Farhan Noor (Pun) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (NWFP) 4-3 (85-57, 43-51, 41-59, 65-31, 32-59, 55-17); Mohammad Asif (Pun) bt Javed Ansari (Sindh) 4-2 (60-66, 79-0, 13-62, 82-13, 67-29, 64-17); Mohammad Shahid (Pun) bt Waqas Malik (Sindh) 4-1 (51-91, 70-46, 77-17, 91-1, 53-45); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Ahsan Javed (Pun) 4-0 (67-14, 62-34, 59-37, 93-9).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Saleh Mohammad v Mudassir, Imran Shahzad v Qadeer Butt, Mohammad Yousuf v Kashif Khan, Khurram Agha v Tahir Abbas at 10.00am; Naveen Perwani v Shah Khan, Shehram Changezi v Imran Qamar, Abu Saim v Abdul Samad, M. Imtiaz Sarwer v Mohammad Afzal at 12.00noon; Mohammad Riaz v Abdul Rauf Kurd, Vishan Gir v Nouman Awan, Raees Khan v Farhan Noor, Mohammad Nazeer v Javed Ansari at 2.00pm; Rambel Gul v Ali Daryab, Mohammad Shahid v Inamur Rehman, Sohail Shehzad v Saqib Butt, Atif Mughal v Qasim Kamani at 4.00pm.