KARACHI: Five seeded cueists among the top 16 failed to cross the first hurdle as the sixth National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship entered the knockout stage at the bank’s sports complex on Sunday.

Those who failed to make it were fifth seed Mohammad Bilal, 10th seed Sultan Mohammad, 13th seed Amir Tariq, 15th seed Shahid Aftab and 16th seed Aakash Rafique.

The outsiders who stepped into the pre quarter-finals were veteran Mohammad Yousuf, Zulfiqar A. Qadir, Yasir Shehzad, Rambel Gul and Khurram Agha.

Aakash Rafique of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa pulled off the biggest to date by getting the better of national champion and top seed Mohammad Asif Toba 4-3 in the battle of nerves.

The former won 29-70, 76-1, 59-50, 0-81, 63-52, 27-65, 66-22. Unfortunately, the win failed to earn him a place in the last 16.

Despite losing his last group match to Mohammad Faheem 2-4, former world champion Yousuf was through to the knockout stage.

Hamza Akbar and Mohammad Sajjad came up century break apiece in the last round of group matches. The former chalked up an elegant break of 102 against Shahid Aftab in the sixth and last frame (78-75, 69-24, 29-93, 65-26, 0-86, 110-22) while the latter despite registering a break of 105 in the third frame went down to Abdul Sattar 2-4.

The best of nine frames pre quarter-finals will be played in two sessions on Monday.

Results:

Farhan Noor (Punjab) bt Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (47-26, 61-22, 73-59, 85-21), Mohammad Faheem bt Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) 4-2 (19-69, 53-42, 66-64, 68-20, 28-71, 55-54), Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) bt Aneel Emanuel (Sindh) 4-3 (49-62, 66-35, 60-43, 69-1, 34-77, 50-63, 79-25), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 4-3 (67-1, 2-74, 72-37, 34-69, 63-23, 31-70, 69-49), Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (9-48, 68-22, 59-42, 73-20, 61-64, 59-22), Aakash Rafique (Khyber pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 (29-70, 76-1, 59-50, 0-81, 63-52, 27-65, 66-22), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 4-2 (78-75, 69-24, 29-93, 65-26, 0-86, 110-22), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-2 (64-56, 25-97, 82-8, 21-73, 82-8, 70-34), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-3 (9-73, 76-50, 66-56, 45-71, 24-71, 69-13, 107-0), Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) 4-1 (106-1, 96-19, 83-41, 0-100, 68-8), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-2 (65-14, 103-27, 0-105, 23-64, 71-69, 64-32), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-1 (37-81, 80-17, 54-5, 82-9, 55-29), Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-1 (66-3, 70-11, 66-27, 45-65, 63-45).

Monday’s fixtures: Pre quarter-finals (best of nine frames)

At 11am: Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Abu Saim (Punjab), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Mohammad Asif (Punjab).

At 2pm: Khurram Agha (Sindh) v Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) v Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Shahram Changezi (Islamabad).

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2014