KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Rambel Gul made a grand comeback on the domestic circuit while bulldozing former world amateur champion Mohammad Asif 5-1 as trio of Mohammad Sajjad, Imran Shehzad and Abdul Sattar completed the semi-final lineup in the third ranking snooker cup at the National Bank Sports Complex on Thursday.

Trailing at 19th spot in the national ranking, Rambel, who finished runner-up in group B behind Sajjad, produced awesome performance by making short work of former celebrity.

The Peshawar-based cueist grabbed a commendable 4-0 lead in the best of nine frames quarter-finals before conceding the fifth and returning vigourously to seal the fate. He was home 70-61, 51-42, 66-59, 80-17, 36-74, 69-22.

Asif’s performance hearalds a sharp decline as he went down 3-5 to Hamza Akbar in the quarter-final of this year’s national’s and made exit in the NBP Cup losing 4-5 to his namesake Asif (Toba) in the pre quarters.

Third seed Imran, a former Pakistan’s top cueist, continued his unbeaten run intact while routing Hamza in one- sided fixture 5-1.

Imran dropped the second frame while registering a commendable 68-30, 8-75, 76-19, 90-43, 64-26, 64-17 victory.

Karachi’s bearded Abdul Sattar followed suit as he cut national junior champion Mohammad Majid Ali to size imposing to a splendid 5-1 victory.

Sattar won the duel 91-25, 99-26, 73-46, 64-53, 44-68, 97-1.

However, contrary to the three quarters, second seed Sajjad was stretched to limits by Sindh’s Sultan Mohammad.

The world snooker losing finalist at Bangalore hammered yet another century break of 105 while returning 9-64, 65-59, 102-14, 66-43, 0-75, 48-76, 4-66, 105-27, 69-27 victorious.

At one stage, Sultan was 4-3 up and only a frame away from the win when he lacked concentration and conceded the last two frames to bow out.

Sattar is drawn to face Rambel Gul in the fist semi-finals at 2pm while Sajjad takes on Imran in the second at 5pm on Friday.

Results: Quarter-finals:

Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Hamza Akbar (Punjab) 5-1 (68-30, 8-75, 76-19, 90-43, 64-26, 64-17); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 5-4 (9-64, 65-59, 102-14, 66-43, 0-75, 48-76, 4-66, 105-27, 69-27); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 5-1 (91-25, 99-26, 73-46, 64-53, 44-68, 97-1); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pak- htunkhwa) bt Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 5-1 (70-61, 51-42, 66-59, 80-17, 36-74, 69-22).

Friday’s fixtures:

Semi-finals (Best of 11 frames)

At 2pm: Abdul Sattar v Rambel Gul

At 5pm: Imran Shehzad v Mohammad Sajjad.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2014