KARACHI: Low-profile Bahadur Khan of Balochistan created the biggest upset to date when he humbled top seed Shahram Changezi in convincing fashion 4-1 in the group A encounter of the seventh National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex on Thursday.

Two more seeded cueists — fifth seed Mohammad Imran and eighth seed Mohammad Asif Toba — bit the dust at the hands of outsiders Mohammad Bilal and Shahid Aftab respectively on yet another day of upsets.

Playing his first group A match, the Islamabad-based Changezi, who is the losing finalist of this year’s national championship, was completely off colour and could only win one frame.

Khan seized 3-0 lead in the best of seven frames battle before conceding the fourth only to bounce back and wrap up the match. He won the duel 61-22, 85-76, 59-25, 9-70, 90-28.

Bilal blanked Imran straight 61-38, 89-0, 64-16, 61-6. This was latter’s second successive defeat in group E in as many days and is out of reckoning now. He had lost to Sindh’s Ian Mark John on Wednesday.

Aftab conceded two frames while getting the better of Toba the scores being 72-42, 16-78, 72-57, 62-8, 13-61, 75-9.

In other matches, second seed Mohammad Asif, and third seed Mohammad Sajjad chalked up their second straight victories.

Meanwhile, former Sindh champion Mohammad Ishtiaq’s century break of 102 in the fourth frame against Mohammad Faheem could not help him win the match as he went down fighting 3-4.

The league matches concludes on Friday and will be followed by knockout round from the following day.

Results:

Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-1 (82-32, 51-60, 61-52, 62-22, 50-47); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) 4-2 (71-48, 75-27, 63-47, 2-80, 42-59, 39-26); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-3 (23-59, 65-1, 58-23, 1-70, 75-10, 13-110, 63-26); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-3 (10-75, 61-53, 16-51, 60-72, 69-33, 73-35, 50-39); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 4-3 (15-61, 55-49, 28-65, 0-108, 53-9, 65-50, 61-47); Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-1 (40-69, 62-9, 54-26, 68-66, 58-38); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (59-15, 66-42, 77-80, 66-28, 42-71, 97-19); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Punjab) 4-0 (61-38, 89-0, 64-16, 61-6); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (51-39, 75-0, 50-60, 100-26, 19-71, 25-72, 69-34); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-2 (72-42, 16-78, 72-57, 62-8, 13-61, 75-9); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-1 (11-81, 67-63, 103-10, 77-24, 71-34); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-3 (78-19, 53-16, 27-73, 24-69, 62-54, 35-62, 66-56); Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) bt Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) 4-1 (61-22, 85-76, 59-25, 9-70, 90-28); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-0 (61-26, 59-48, 83-42, 72-24); Babar Masih (Punjab0 bt Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) 4-1 (82-18, 49-61, 97-0, 81-44, 63-24).

Friday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Bilal v Ian Mark John, Sharjeel Mehmood v Mohammad Toufiq Jhori, Sohail Shehzad v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, Shahid Aftab v Mohammad Uzair Aziz.

At 12noon: Mohammad Faizan v Mohammad Faheem, Asjad Iqbal v Shah Khan, Mohammad Nouman Iqbal v Abu Saim.

At 2pm: Mohammad Imran v Mohammad Majid Ali, Aakash Rafique v Rambel Gul, Khurram Agha v Sultan Mohammad, Mohammad Asif Toba v Zulfiqar A. Qadir.

At 4pm: Shahram Changezi v Imran Shehzad, Mohammad Asif v Mohammad Ishtiaq, Mohammad Sajjad v Amir Tariq, Babar Masih v Abdul Sattar.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

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