March 24, 2008	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1429

KARACHI, March 23: The 33rd National snooker championship, which entered the knockout stage (pre quarter-finals) on Sunday, witnessed more surprises as third seed and a veteran cueist Mohammad Yousuf was knocked out by improving Shehram Changezi at the Karachi Gymkhana.

Defending champion Naveen Perwani, losing finalist Vishan Gir, seventh seed Abu Saim and 14th seed Sohail Shehzad had already made their exit at the end of the league on Saturday.

Islamabad-based Shehram, who had stunned Yousuf the former world amateur champion 6-2 to land his maiden ranking crown in his home city last year, won the battle 1-85, 64-55, 69-8, 64-27, 57-58, 79-38, 67-33.

Those who joined Shehram in the last eight include Saleh Mohammad, Imran Shahzad, Khurram Agha, Raees Khan, Atif Mughal, Imtiaz Sarwer and Mohammad Sajjad.

Khurram, who had scored the highest century break (105) against Qasim Kamani in the league round, added one more to his tally (103) in his 5-2 triumph over Mohammad Nazir.

Punjab’s Mohammad Shahid who went down to top seed Saleh 2-5 also had the consolation of piling a century break (101).

The best of nine frames quarter-finals will be played simultaneously at 10.00am. This will be followed by semi-finals at 3.00pm.

Results (Pre quarter-finals):

Raees Khan (Punjab) bt Saqib Butt 5-3 (26-69, 83-48, 24-72, 24-68, 56-23, 66-56, 54-26, 66-51); Atif Mughal (Punjab) bt Imran Qamar (Punjab) 5-1 (23-73, 62-16, 88-10, 58-20, 55-21, 62-35); Imtiaz Sarwer (Punjab) bt Mohammad Riaz (Sindh) 5-3 (68-39, 50-33, 8-64, 58-62, 72-61, 48-55, 91-0, 71-37); Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Mohammad Shahid (Punjab) 5-2 (68-60, 97-5, 53-34, 0-101, 7-61, 95-21, 78-44); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 5-2 (68-22, 33-75, 81-56, 63-8, 1-68, 53-45, 57-53); Shehram Changezi (Punjab) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 5-2 (1-85, 64-55, 69-8, 64-27, 57-58, 79-38, 67-33); Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Rambel Gul (NWFP) 5-3 (62-2, 55-62, 72-45, 67-42, 57-35, 32-74, 32-57, 67-29); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) 5-2 (50-76, 119-18, 58-30, 55-15, 64-36, 17-69, 700-30).

Monday’s fixtures: Quarter-finals at 10.00am; semi-finals at 3.00pm.