KARACHI, May 27: Although eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti won his last qualifying round routing ninth seed Minhas Malik 4-0 with breaks of 83, 49 and 61, he failed to make it through to the last 16, in the Seventh Red & White Style Snooker Championship on Tuesday at the Karachi Gymkhana.

After losing to Imran Mughal 4-2 on Saturday and going down 4-1 the following day to Rambel Gul, Shakeel played perhaps his best and had a faint chance of reaching the last 16. He waited anxiously for three long hours along with Mukhtar Khan to see the outcome of the match between Imran Mughal and Rambel Gul from Group H. If unbeaten Rambel beat Imran, Shakeel would sneak in with a better frame advantage of plus 2 against Imran and Mukhtar who would all end up with two points apiece.

But it was not to be. Rambel did give Shakeel some hope leading by two frames to one, but was soon in arrears 2-3. Rambel levelled the frame scores at 3-3, but withered away in the final frame.

Although he beat Rambel, Imran had to be content with the second spot in the pool. Both cueists finished with three points each, but Rambel grabbed the top spot with a +10 frame advantage against Imran’s +1.

The four top seeds all went through to the last 16 unbeaten.

Khurram Hussain Agha beat Mohammad Akhlas 4-2 after trailing 0-2 at one stage of the game.

Mohammad Yousuf with two fine breaks of 40 and 43 in the opening frame had to bring out his best in overcoming Shah Khan from the NWFP, 4-2, after Shah trailing 0-2 fought is way back to 2-2 and then was leading by 34 points in the vital fifth frame. But the young Pathan made a vital error on the green ball and Yousuf pounced like a marauding hawk and went on to win the match 4-2.

Saleh Mohammad assisted with breaks of 45 and 52, brushed aside Punjab’s Mohammad Nazir 4-2, who had to be content with the second spot in Group C.

Naveen Perwani also kept his slate clean, ending the run of Aneel Bherwani 4-1 to top Group D. He was joined later in the night by unseeded Nauman Awan, who got the better of Ahmer Sheikh 4-2, after the latter took a 2-1 lead and although excelling with his long pot and canons failed to make it through to the last 16.

Sixth seed Atiq Latif Bux lost his last match in the qualifiers to gifted left-hander Vishan Gir 4-3, who had to win this vital match to keep his chances alive in the tournament. Atiq who topped Group F, began in style with 40 points on the trot in the opening frame. But Vishan did better with fluent breaks of 51 and 89 in the final frame to come through a delighted winner after the scores were tied at 3-3.

Seventh seed Imran Shehzad made short work M. Faiq Malik 4-0 to top the ladder in Group G, winning all his qualifying matches. He was later joined by unseeded Abu Saim, who came from behind to beat Yousuf Haroon 4-2, after losing the first two frames and seeing Yousuf in front in the third frame by 35 points.

Punjab’s Saqib Butt unlucky to lose his first three matches by 4-3 margins finally hit the winning trail by beating compatriot Raja Rashid 4-1.

Raja stumbling at the last hurdle finished with two points along with Balochistan’s Mustafa Hyder. Unseeded Mustafa however grabbed the second spot and qualified for the pre-quarterfinals rounds for the very first time in a ranking tournament with a -2 frame advantage against Raja’s -3.

In two other matches that made little difference, Punjab’s Raees Khan breezed past Sindh’s Salman Shaikh 4-0 and Kashif Khan came from behind to beat Shadab Baig 4-3, after the former Sindh Cup champion was leading 2-0 and later 3-2 before surrendering the match.

Shadab had a horrible championship, finishing last in Group F after losing all his matches, two of them by 4-3 margins.

Out of the 16 qualifiers, Sindh, Punjab and NWFP have five entries each with Balochistan taking one spot.

Pre-quarterfinal line-up:

1130 a.m. Imran Shehzad v Shah Khan. Imran Mughal v Mohammad Asif. Khurram Hussain Agha v Mohammad Nazir. Naveen Perwani v Vishan Gir.

3.00 p.m. Mohammad Yousuf v Arifullah. Nauman Awan v Rambel Gul. Atiq Latif Bux v Mustafa Hyder. Saleh Mohammad v Abu Saim.

Final qualifying round results:

Shakeel Bhatti bt Minhas Malik 4-0: 101/6, 74/44, 84/8, 88/14; Saqib Butt bt Raja Rashid 4-1: 51/32, 58/48, 60/37, 2/62, 65/54; Vishan Gir bt Atiq Latif Bux 4-3: 38/76, 94/36, 77/26, 42/54, 89/0, 36/69, 61/32; Imran Shehzad bt M. Faiq Malik 4-0: 57/22, 53/21, 69/40, 51/44; Naveen Perwani bt Aneel Bherwani 4-1: 65/27, 69/20, 63/54, 15/58, 84/10. Khurram Hussain Agha bt Mohammad Akhlas 4-2: 28/67, 47/57; 61/9, 72/8, 80/8, 78/32; Mohammad Yousuf bt Sher Khan 4-2: 88/27, 61/25, 55/68, 65/36, 31/68, 68/44; Saleh Mohammad bt Mohammad Nazir 4-2: 25/87, 62/25, 34/62, 70/38, 76/32, 75/21; Imran Mughal bt Rambel Gul 4-3: 66/52, 60/32, 29/66, 44/55, 66/33, 14/86. 67/19; Kashif Khan bt Shadab Baig 4-3: 0/73, 42/75, 60/20, 55/41, 42/71, 59/39, 77/4; Abu Saim bt Yousuf Haroon 4-2: 25/66, 46/66, 54/46, 63/11, 55/22, 65/52; Nauman Awan bt Ahmer Shaikh 4-2: 65/29, 45/55, 22/66, 61/51, 64/48, 64/55; Raees Khan bt Salman Shaikh 4-0: 62/10, 63/15, 65/37, 59/48; Masood Ahmed w/o Mohammad Shafiq.