KARACHI: Five-seeded cueists who were among top 16 fell at the first hurdle as the fifth National Bank of Pakistan Ranking Snooker Championship entered the knockout pre quarter-finals stage at the bank’s sports complex on Friday.
The five who met their fate include seventh seed Babar Masih, who had shocked IBSF world snooker champion Mohammad Asif 4-3 the other day, ninth seed Mohammad Ishtiaq, 10th seed Umair Alam, 12th seed Mohammad Javed and 14th seed Amir Tariq.
The five who came their at their expense were Asif, Khurram Agha, Sultan Mohammad, Naveen Perwani and Sohail Shehzad.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shafiullah, meanwhile, stole the limelight on the last day of the league by hammering highest break of 130 against Sindh’s Sohail Shehzad, surpassing the previous best of 129 cracked by Farhan Noor, also against Sohail, on Thursday.
Shafiullah’s break, which came in the fifth frame, could not help him as he lost the fixture to his opponent 3-4 and also failed to progress in the next round.
The best of nine frames pre quarter-finals will be played in two sessions on Saturday. The first sessions starts at 10.00am.
Results: Ayaz Khan (Islamabad) bt Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 4-2 (74-29, 0-112, 53-42, 46-70, 70-53, 60-23); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (77-14, 57-14, 83-3, 85-13); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) 4-3 (61-52, 78-29, 39-56, 11-76, 71-32, 44-64, 91-15); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Shafiullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (64-32, 26-67, 71-46, 9-64, 0-130, 74-64, 59-2); Amir Shahzad (Punjab) bt Mohsin Amin (Punjab) 4-2 (51-47, 60-23, 66-19, 66-83, 48-57, 66-53); AaKash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (71-28, 63-25, 77-32, 57-60, 66-13); —Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-1 (71-70, 61-64, 76-26, 82-43, 67-16); Amir Rasheed (Punjab) bt Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-2 (59-76, 25-66, 76-46, 75-8, 52-17, 61-2); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Javed (Punjab) 4-1 (1-90, 102-4, 104-0, 74-6, 81-15); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab bt Babar Masih (Punjab)) 4-3 (57-50, 10-73, 65-35, 142-0, 7-64, 9-75, 95-40); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-1 (58-57, 39-52, 50-33, 91-0, 79-46); Farhan Noor (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 4-2 (63-49, 67-9, 30-62, 85-30, 24-76, 60-42); Hamza Akber (Punjab) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) 4-3 (58-50, 9-68, 36-69, 65-36, 30-59, 77-54, 55-21); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-1 (95-7, 68-2, 2-74, 51-19, 77-3); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-1 (64-52, 75-42, 71-74, 64-55, 62-58); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (48-46, 50-60, 73-27, 18-70, 83-20, 64-28).
Saturday’s fixtures: Pre quarter-finals: (best of nine frames) At 10.00AM: Mohammad Sajjad v Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Sattar v Mohammad Asif, Khurram Agha v Farhan Noor, Shahid Aftab v Mohammad Majid Ali.
At 2.00PM: Sharjeel Mehmood v Asjad Iqbal, Sultan Mohammad v Sohail Shehzad, Hamza Akbar v Naveen Perwani, Imran Shehzad v Abu Saim.
