KARACHI, June 29: Formidable Punjab chalked up back-to-back victories as snooker made its debut in the National Games at the Islamabad’s Pakistan Sports Complex billiards hall on Saturday.

The Punjab trio comprising world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad and Imran Shehzad first thrashed Islamabad 3-1 and later blanked Balochistan 3-0 in the best of five frames duels.

In the other matches, Sindh (Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Ishtaiq and Umair Alam) routed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Sharjeel Mehmood, Shafiullah and Shah Khan) 3-0 but suffered a 1-3 loss at the hands of Islamabad (Ayaz Khan, Rashid Mehmood and Shahiryar).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, meanwhile, made amends to their earlier loss inflicting 3-1 defeat on Balochistan (Bahadur Khan, Abdul Rehman and Saif Ali Khan).

The event is being played on single league and the top two teams on points will play the final.

Results:

Punjab bt Islamabad 3-1 (85-46, 125-0, 40-52, 68-50). Sindh bt Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 3-0 (73-53, 69-30, 57-30). Punjab bt Balochistan 3-0 (63-4, 76-38, 86-13). Islamabad bt Sindh 3-1 (78-4, 22-77, 70-44, 105-8). Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bt Balochistan 3-1 (63-30, 73-75, 66-25, 56-51). Sunday’s fixtures: Matches start at 10.00am.

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