KARACHI: Three seeded cueists — defending champion Moham­mad Asif Toba, Pakistan No 2 Imran Shehzad and No 4 and a former national champion Hamza Akbar — bit the dust on the opening day of the 40th National Snooker Championship which also saw two splendid century breaks at Hotel Movenpick on Saturday.

Trailing 1-3 down in the best of seven frames battle, former Sindh champion Mohammad Ishtiaq turned the tables on fifth seed Toba taking the last three frames to post a commendable 64-33, 30-66, 16-74, 0-80, 83-22, 58-48, 67-32 victory in the morning session.

The second session had two more upsets in store when junior wildcard and prodigy Amir Tariq shocked Pakistan No 2 Imran Shehzad in the fully stretched battle 4-3 (91-7, 72-10, 52-74, 51-56, 88-27, 30-87, 70-59) while former international Babar Masih routed Hamza 4-1 (69-35, 68-52, 64-81, 55-11, 95-2).

Meanwhile, Asjad Iqbal and low-profile Saqib Butt conjured up breaks of 110 and 109 against Nouman Awan and Mohammad Asif respectively.

Results:

Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 (64-33, 30-66, 16-74, 0-80, 83-22, 58-48, 67-32); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-3 (89-35, 72-31, 0-117, 113-22, 2-84, 20-82, 91-54); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (80-22, 67-64, 68-10, 73-37); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Naumam Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (51-58, 52-16, 51-10, 110-0, 74-26); Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-2 (73-28, 65-29, 5-73, 42-73, 67-33, 68-24); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt M. Noumam Iqbal (Islamabad) 4-0 (63-26, 66-37, 64-16-, 125-8); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-3 (91-7, 72-10, 52-74, 51-56, 88-27, 30-87, 70-59); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 4-1 (64-21, 75-19, 25-67, 73-19, 66-1); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Hamza Akbar (Punjab) 4-1 (69-35, 68-52, 64-81, 55-11, 95-2); Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Gul Afzal (Islamabad) 4-2 (18-54, 36-75, 58-31, 62-48, 58-40, 69-48); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-3 (49-67, 62-14, 56-55, 15-68, 42-61, 96-24, 54-18); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Saeed Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (64-34, 46-52, 60-8, 66-31, 80-22); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (49-61, 73-28, 28-74, 53-59, 51-43, 71-24, 60-1); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Jahangir Bangulzai (Balochistan) 4-1 (57-55, 12-69, 64-53, 82-13, 59-7); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mehmood Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (64-17, 74-71, 61-51, 39-88, 57-65, 71-42); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Aamir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (16-78, 61-15, 20-70, 91-1, 15-68, 85-4, 65-35); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Yasir Nadeem (Islamabad) 4-2 (7-60, 73-17, 18-61, 76-44, 67-43, 61-15); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) 4-0 (67-30, 63-50, 74-38, 60-19); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-1 (52-30, 65-54, 59-67, 60-9, 51-14).

Sunday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Mohammad Ahsan Javed (Punjab), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) v Babar Masih (Punjab).

At 12noon: Khurram Agha (Sindh) v Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad), Abu Saim (Punjab) v Amir Tariq (Punjab), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Abdul Raheem (Punjab), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Mohammad Faheem (Punjab), Gul Afzal (Islamabad) v Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh).

At 2pm: Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) v Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) v Jahangir Bungulzai (Balochistan), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Zulfiqar A Qadir (Sindh), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Saqib Butt (Punjab).

At 4pm: Mehmood Khan (Balochistan) v Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh), Aamir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Hunain Amir (Punjab), Yasir Nadeem (Islamabad) v Jan Mark John (Sindh), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) v Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn February 1st, 2015

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