KARACHI: Top seed and losing finalist of this year’s national championship Shahram Changezi is among four seeded players who were knocked out from the seventh National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship held at the bank’s sports complex on Friday.

Three other cueists who joined him in making exit were fourth seed Babar Masih, fifth seed Mohammad Imran and sixth seed Aakash Rafique.

As many as 16 cueists — top two from eight groups — cruised into the knock out pre quarter-finals as the league matches ended on Friday.

They include Imran Shehzad, Bahadur Khan (group A), Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Faheem (group B), Mohammad Sajjad, Shah Khan (group C), Abu Saim, Abdul Sattar (group D), Mohammad Bilal, Ian Mark John (group E), Rambel Gul, Sharjeel Mehmood (group F), Khurram Agha, Sultan Mohammad (group G), Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Asif Toba (group H).

Islamabad-based Changezi, who suffered 1-4 loss at the hands of Balochistan’s Bahadur Khan the other day, though made amends by getting the better of Imran Shahezd 4-3 in the three-player group A, but could not get through on frame difference. He needed to win 4-1 to qualify for the knock out stage.

By making early exit, he also failed to qualify for the next month’s IBSF world championship which is being held at Egypt from Nov 10-21.

Results:

Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-2 (8-71, 88-0, 72-45, 26-52, 54-7, 102-20); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) 4-2 (42-67, 100-21, 45-56, 66-21, 80-10, 99-16); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-2 (61-20, 25-64, 60-14, 41-70, 94-39, 57-9); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-1 (60-42, 105-0, 73-39, 38-74, 89-37); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faizan (Punjab) 4-2 (22-53, 8-78, 57-51, 61-40, 59-39, 60-15); Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-1 (63-46, 104-1, 62-27, 39-76, 71-52); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) 4-2 (51-64, 22-94, 67-23, 75-31. 67-19, 83-12); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Punjab) 4-0 (67-1, 116-0, 81-0, 75-0); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (68-39, 64-33, 59-53, 42-79, 55-71, 87-0); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-2 (16-67, 0-94, 72-55, 63-28, 64-55, 60-40); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (73-23, 48-66, 53-63, 41-51, 73-13, 52-23, 54-43); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-3 (123-5, 48-72, 73-23, 55-57, 74-22, 8-75, 70-47); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-1 (80-1, 66-4, 79-1, 0-87, 56-51); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) 4-3 (7-76, 82-8, 57-27, 24-61, 37-63, 69-47, 70-15); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Babar Masih (Punjab) 4-2 (62-13, 53-19, 72-52, 0-100, 33-66, 53-38).

Saturday’s fixtures:

Pre quarter-finals:

First session at 10am:

Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Ian Mark John (Sindh); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) v Khurram Agha (Sindh); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) v Abu Saim (Punjab).

Second session at 1pm:

Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Sultan Mohammad (Sindh); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab); Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Asif (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2015

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