KARACHI: The pair of junior cueists from Punjab – Abdul Raheem and Mohammad Faheem – sent shock waves with their performance on the opening day of third national ranking snooker cup at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex on Saturday.

Raheem extended world silver medallist Mohammad Sajjad to limits before losing the battle 3-4 while Faheem created the first biggest upset while registering 4-2 victory over experienced and fifth ranked Hamza Akbar.

The Bangalore hero Sajjad was in fine nick when he opened the group B match with a splendid century break in the first frame but suddenly fell back losing the following three frames in-a-row to trail 1-3. Finally, he made amends taking the remaining last three frames to survive a scare. The scores were 100-24, 55-59, 18-79, 25-77, 85-23, 65-49, 79-1.

Hamza, the losing finalist of this year’s national championship, was toppled by none other then a junior entity Faheem who was home 5-75, 131-4, 47-41, 70-44, 37-46, 53-25.

Meanwhile, national champion and top seed Mohammad Asif Toba and his namesake and former world amateur champion Mohammad Asif struggled to win their matches over Mohammad Imran and Babar Masih respectively.

Results:

Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-1 (24-75, 65-37, 80-14, 55-53, 60-38); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-2 (20-64, 74-19, 29-45, 60-22, 70-16, 61-24); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) 4-1 (21-73, 78-19, 78-1, 74-1, 90-6); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Babar Masih (Punjab) 4-2 (60- 20, 1-110, 56-48, 62-76, 77-55, 65-24); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Punjab) 4-3 (43-57, 72-48, 26-73, 63-12, 29-63, 72-48, 81-4); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 4-3 (100-24, 55-59, 18-79, 25-77, 85-23, 65-49, 79-1); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 4-1 (91-15, 24-68, 115-0, 67-5, 69-7); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) 4-0 (65-7, 100-6, 97-0, 56-5); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-2 (58-43, 61-6, 40-65, 62-39, 40-75, 72-71); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (21-63, 71-64, 74-6, 31-77, 55-47, 68-33); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) 4-1 (39-67, 63-29, 83-8, 68-39, 62-30); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (36-60, 58-13, 95-14, 71-8, 63-49); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 4-0 (76-64, 80-32, 85-1, 83-1); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Hamza Akbar (Punjab) 4-2 (5-75, 131-4, 47-41, 70-44, 37-46, 53-25).

Sunday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Shahid Aftab v Mohammad Imran, Abu Saim v Abdul Raheem, Shahram Changezi v Mohammad Haris Nadeem, Mohammad Asif v Mohammad Faheem.

At 12noon: Mohammad Asif Toba v Sultan Mohammad, Mohammad Sajjad v Amir Tariq, Imran Shehzad v Mohammad Ishtiaq, Asjad Iqbal v Babar Masih.

At 2pm: Mohammad Majid Ali v Zulfiqar A. Qadir, Sohail Shehzad v Rambel Gul, Abdul Sattar v Khurram Agha, Hamza Akbar v Mohammad Bilal.

At 4pm: Shahram Changezi v Khurram Agha, Mohammad Sajjad v Aakash Rafique, Imran Shehzad v Mohammad Yousuf, Asjad Iqbal v Yasir Shehzad.

Published in Dawn December 7th , 2014