KARACHI: Top two cueists — Mohammad Asif Toba and Mohammad Sajjad — and fourth seed Asjad Iqbal, all from Punjab, suffered humiliation as former Pakistan No 1 Imran Shehzad notched up highest break of 133 to date in the third ranking snooker cup at National Bank Sports Complex on Tuesday.

Sindh’s Zulfiqar A Qadir created quite a stir when he got the better of top ranked Toba in the fully stretched battle 4-3 (7-105, 56-47, 42-77. 0-90, 70-23. 76-30, 64-4).

This was Toba’s second defeat in three days the first being at the hands of Sultan Mohammad on Sunday that has minimise his chances of making it to the knockout from Group ‘A’. He is drawn to face Mohammad Majid Ali in the last match on Wednesday.

Playing on the adjacent table, world snooker losing finalist and second seed Mohammad Sajjad fell prey to 11th seed Abu Saim in the same fashion.

Despite hammering a century break of 112 — his third in the event — he could not maintain the pace and lost the battle. Saim was home 40-66, 76-0, 64-30, 49-69, 17-112, 71-8, 59-19.

Fourth seed Asjad Iqbal tasted his second successive defeat in as many days when he was blanked by former world champion Mohammad Asif 75-68, 62-25, 68-41, 81-33.

Three cueists — Majid (A), Imran Shehzad (C) and Mohammad Asif (D) –– have reached the quarter-finals with an unbeaten record on the penultimate day of the league.

Imran also caught the eye when he came up with a break of 133 — highest of the event so far — while removing Islamabad-based Shahram Changezi 4-1 the scores were 133-6, 60-47, 12-87, 104-10, 67-6.

The league matches concludes on Wednesday.

Results:

Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Imran (Punjab) 4-1 (56-54, 64-66, 76-13, 67-39, 81-8); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 4-1 (60-32, 72-52, 37-62, 52-33, 64-54); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 4-2 (43-78, 112-4, 62-46, 68-15, 57-70, 75-3); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) 4-3 (50-64, 66-21, 20-64, 15-61, 79-15, 63-14, 96-0); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 4-3 (78-35, 58-14, 54-53, 28-52, 39-85, 61-63, 101-22); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Sohail Shehzad (walk over); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) 4-3 (63-32, 69-53, 48-68, 14-74, 61-60, 27-61, 101-1); Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (73-26, 70-64, 78-44, 12-61, 59-39); Zulfiqar A Qadir (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 ( 7-105, 56-47, 42-77. 0-90, 70-23. 76-30, 64-48); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-3 (40-66, 76-0, 64-30, 49-69, 17-112, 71-8, 59-19); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) 4-1 (133-6. 60-47, 12-87, 104-10, 67-6); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-0 (75-68, 62-25, 68-41, 81-33); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-2 (20-68, 59-44, 75-22, 52-59, 90-43, 51-10); Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 4-1 (56-71, 73-22, 77-19, 54-42, 52-36); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (68-23, 64-7, 73-6, 77-0).

Published in Dawn December 10th , 2014