KARACHI, May 26: Ninth seed Minhas Malik suffering another defeat, fell by the wayside after the end of the third day’s play of the qualifying rounds in the Seventh Red & White Style Snooker Championship played on Monday at the Karachi Gymkhana.

The Sindh cueist was completely at sea against his opponent from the NWFP Rambel Gul, who whipped him 4-0 with a farewell break of 56 in the final frame.

Sindh’s Mukhtar Khan registered his second successive victory, toppling Punjab’s Imran Mughal 4-1, to give him slender hopes of reaching the last 16. His fate rests in the results of today’s matches between Rambel G,ul presently perched on top in Group H against Imran Mughal and Shakeel Bhatti against Minhas Malik.

Also registering is second win was Balochistan’s Mustafa Hyder who edged out Punjab’s Saqib Butt in a match that went the full distance.

Saqib had earlier drew level 3-3 with a break of 63, but Mustafa sealed the fate of the match after he sunk the last black ball. With Mohammad Akhlas bowing out 4-2 to Raja Rasheed, he now takes on top seed Khurram Hussain Agha on Tuesday in his last qualifying round, while Raja takes on Punjab’s Saqib Butt, who lost all his three matches to date by 4-3 margins. The result of these two encounters will decide who will join Khurram from Group A in the last 16. Mustafa Hyder too could slip in through the back door.

Sindh’s Kashif Khan dented NWFP’s Janan Khan’s chances of joining Atiq Latif Bux in the pre-quarter-final from Group F, having his first success in the tournament with a 4-2 triumph.

In another marathon that went the full distance, Mohammad Nazir from Punjab booked his berth amongst the last 16, nosing out Sindh’s Salman Sheikh with the last black ball deciding the issue.

Ahmer Sheikh blocked out fancied Aneel Bherwani 4-2 and seems to be on course of reaching the pre-quarter-finals along with Naveen Perwani from Group D, unless Aneel upsets the applecart by disposing off fourth seed Naveen.

Punjab’s Abu Saim ended the challenge of compatriot M. Faiq Malik 4-0, assisted with a break of 53 and will meet Yousuf Haroon in his last match of the qualifiers. The winner of this encounter will join Imran Shahzad in the last 16 from Group G.

Left-hander Vishan Gir had to bring out his best in ending the challenge of Shadab Baig 4-2 to register his second win in three outings, while Shah Khan also had to break into a sweat by beating Faisal Essa 4-2.

Sindh’s Irfan Rasheed Khan ended his qualifying matches with a fourth straight defeat going down 4-1 to Raees Khan, while Nauman Awan also had his second success on Monday afternoon, beating Balochistan’s Mohammad Hussain, who also lost all his four qualifying matches.

Following were the results:

Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) beat Imran Mughal (Punjab) 4-1: 58/65, 68/29, 47/39, 51/41, 55/45. Mohammad Asif (Punjab) beat Masood Ahmed (Sindh) 4-2: 42/66, 59/55, 52/41, 67/22, 52/64, 53/50. Kashif Khan (Sindh) beat Janan Khan (Balochistan) 4-2: 66/10, 46/59, 76/28, 53/28, 19/79, 54/37. Nauman Awan (NWFP) beat Mohammad Hussain (Balochistan) 4-1: 37/46, 63/40, 83/14, 69/45, 53/29. Mustafa Hyder (Balochistan) beat Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-3: 20/66, 56/11, 27/79, 70/21, 59/21, 21/92, 63/58. Shah Khan (NWFP) beaty Faisal Essa 4-2: 7/71, 46/38, 56/46, 72/2, 51/54, 67/15. Raees Khan (Punjab) beat Irfan Rasheed Khan 4-1 80/50, 50/41, 68/8, 12/48, 70/36. Rambel Gul (NWFP) beat Minhas Malik (Sindh) 4-0: 72/25, 60/13, 55/9, 73/29. Vishan Gir (Sindh) beat Shadab Baig (Sindh) 4-2: 33/71, 71/47, 57/22, 56/59, 61/9, 67/36. bu Saim (Punjab) beat M. Faiq Malik (Punjab) 4-0: 57/13, 58/24, 55/52, 63/46. Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh) beat Aneel Bherwani (Sindh) 4-2: 62/15, 34/74, 51/27, 10/69, 64/24, 70/36. Raja Rasheed (Punjab) beat Mohammad Akhlas (Sindh) 4-2: 87/60, 66/35, 28/62, 69/65, 32/61, 56/18. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) beat Salman Sheikh (Sindh) 4-3: 25/88, 32/60, 61/27, 75/51, 2/72, 64/11, 56/52. Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) w/o Arshad Siddiq (NWFP). Arifullah (NWFP) w/o Mohammad Shafiq (NWFP).