KARACHI: Defending champion Mohammad Sajjad survived a scare before winning group ‘C’ opener in the fully stretched battle as four seeded cueists fell prey in the seventh National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex on Wednesday.

Former national champion, Sajjad, recovered from a shaky start to justify his credentials while getting the better of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s low-profile Shah Khan 4-3 (9-84, 83-39, 65-39, 36-65, 80-36, 44-76, 72-61).

In other matches, seeded quartet – fourth seed Babar Masih, fifth seed Mohammad Imran, sixth seed Aakash Rafique and seventh seed Khurram Agha — suffered astonishing defeats in their opening group matches.

Abu Saim blanked Babar 4-0, Ian Mark John swept aside Imran 4-2, Mohammad Toufiq Jhori overcome Aakash 4-3 while Mohammad Ahsan Javaid was home 4-2 over Khurram.

Meanwhile, three-time champion Asjad Iqbal and Shahid Aftab stole the limelight by chalking up two elegant century breaks. The former hammered the first century break of 104 in the second frame against Amir Tariq while registering a 4-2 victory (13-88, 104-0, 70-22, 69-30, 42-66, 60-52) while the latter equalled the feat by conjuring up splendid break of 104 in the seventh frame against Zulfiqar A Qadir. The scores were 102-12, 92-6, 21-72, 1-70, 21-94, 82-37, 104-20.

Results:

Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) 4-0 (64-28, 88-8, 83-45, 92-5); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (9-84, 83-39, 65-39, 36-65, 80-36, 44-76, 72-61); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Babar Masih (Punjab) 4-0 (108-0, 93-26, 74-61, 70-32); Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Mohammad Imran (Punjab) 4-2 (first frame awarded to Imran, 66-9, 44-59, 56-33, 63-45, 48-17); Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (48-61, 66-6, 61-11, 60-2, 41-27, 1-89, 65-19); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 4-2 (33-50, 62-45, 82-25, 33-67, 73-2, 64-20); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-2 (63-76, 77-28, 78-26, 77-7, 44-64, 82-26); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (68-27, 69-55, 63-49, 81-24); Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-2 (62-31, 59-36, 34-58, 22-

68, 66-38, 64-23); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-2 (13-88, 104-0, 70-22, 69-30, 42-66, 60-52); Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (41-61, 57-43, 48-75, 50-32, 62-30, 58-45); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-2 (70-26, 35-60, 59-56, 62-53, 21-55, 57-5); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (33-75, 71-64, 68-32, 57-31, 8-59, 58-69, 63-16); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-3 (85-16, 38-84, 60-21, 66-42, 32-64, 19-57, 76-22); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (102-12, 92-6, 21-72, 1-70, 21-94, 82-37, 104-20).

Thursday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Majid Ali v Ian Mark John, Rambel Gul v Mohammad Toufiq Jhori, Sultan Mohammad v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, Zulfiqar A Qadir v Mohammad Uzair Aziz.

At 12noon: Mohammad Ishtiaq v Mohammad Faheem, Amir Tariq v Shah Khan, Abdul Sattar v Abu Saim.

At 2pm: Mohammad Imran v Mohammad Bilal, Aakash Rafique v Sharjeel Mehmood, Khurram Agha v Sohail Shehzad, Mohammad Asif Toba v Shahid Aftab.

At 4pm: Shahram Changezi v Bahadur Khan, Mohammad Asif v Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Sajjad v Asjad Iqbal, Babar Masih v Mohammad Nouman Iqbal.

Published in Dawn, October 8th , 2015

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