KARACHI: Sixth seed Khizar Aziz set a date with outsider Zulfiqar A. Qadir as second and third seeds Mohammad Ishtiaq and Sohail Shehzad respectively fell prey in the preceding rounds of the 22nd Sindh Cup snooker at a local parlour on Sunday.

After sending seasoned cueist Sohail Shehzad packing 5-3 in the quarters, Khizar fought tooth and nail to overcome low profile Aneel John in the best of nine semi-final 5-4 to sneak into final.

The other finalist Zulfiqar, also had a tough time while eliminating Tahir Majeed 5-4 in the last eight round but had a cakewalk over Ishtiaq winning straight 5-0 in the semis.

The final that was originally scheduled to be played on Monday has been deferred and now takes place on Sunday Feb 12 at 11am.

Meanwhile, six cueists namely Khizar Aziz, Zulfiqar A. Qadir, Aneel John, Mohammad Ishtiaq, Sohail Shehzad and Salman Sheikh have qualified to represent Sindh in this year’s national snooker championship.

Results:

Quarter-finals:

Khizar Aziz bt Sohail Shehzad 5-3 (44-84, 71-33, 37-67, 66-35, 65-55, 54-66, 80-55, 83-6); Aneel John bt S. Meesam Zaidi 5-2 (28-54, 48-9, 49-76, 67-53, 66-57, 72-29, 82-4); Mohammad Ishtaiq bt Salman Shaikh 5-1 (67-15, 74-17, 82-18, 52-65, 62-36, 64-28); Zulfiqar A. Qadir bt Tahir Majeed 5-4 (33-66, 22-61, 50-58, 74-7, 63-51, 128-1, 48-60, 62-41, 65-40).

Semi-finals:

Khizar Aziz bt Aneel John 5-4 (35-51, 49-58, 53-62, 73-27, 29-62, 60-33, 69-14, 115-5, 57-43); Zulfiqar A. Qadir bt Mohammad Ishtaiq 5-0 (79-17, 56-14, 73-11, 68-31, 53-14).