KARACHI: Former Pakistan No 1 and the seventh seed Khurram Agha followed in the footsteps of top seed Shahram Changezi by making exit in the last-16 round of the National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex on Saturday.

The 3-5 loss that Agha suffered at the hands of 40th-ranked Mohammad Faheem, has now left only two top-seeded players – second seed Mohammad Asif and third seed Mohammad Sajjad – amongst the last eight.

The other low-ranked six cueists who joined Asif and Sajjad in quarters include 14th seed Abdul Sattar, 17th seed Imran Shehzad, 18th seed Shahid Aftab, 22nd seed Mohammad Bilal, 31st seed Abu Saim and 40th seed Mohammad Faheem.

Faheem struggled to overcome Agha 53-40, 83-30, 28-67, 57-14, 47-56, 30-80, 65-22, 58-51.

Meanwhile, Asif and Sajjad made a short work of their opponents on way to making it to the last-eight. The former carved out an emphatic 5-1 victory over Sindh’s Ian Mark John (88-35, 115-0, 52-65, 64-61, 90-28, 73-28) while the latter dropped two frames before inflicting 5-2 defeat over Shah Khan (53-23, 74-44, 29-76, 49-23, 66-16, 36-61, 80-13).

Meanwhile, Shahid Aftab stole the limelight while hammering the highest century break of 135 in the last frame against Sharjeel Mehmood. The former was home (25-57, 65-62, 92-1, 19-71, 45-75, 15-56, 58-19, 69-14,135-0).

In the other matches Abu Saim defeated Bahadur Khan 5-2, Mohammad Bilal brushed aside Sultan Mohammad 5-3, Abdul Sattar ended winning run of Rambel Gul 5-3 while Imran Shehzad ousted Asif Toba 5-1.

Results:

Pre quarter-finals:

Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 5-1 (88-35, 115-0, 52-65, 64-61, 90-28, 73-28); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 5-3 (53-40, 83-30, 28-67, 57-14, 47-56, 30-80, 65-22, 58-51); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-4 (25-57, 65-62, 92-1, 19-71, 45-75, 15-56, 58-19, 69-14, 135-0); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 5-2 (105-6, 47-54, 58-65, 68-53, 65-40, 72-28, 73-23); Mohammad Bial (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 5-3 (51-69, 71-45, 0-80, 71-54, 54-76, 79-20, 57-11, 57-23); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-3 (80-53, 46-15, 47-49, 68-56, 28-77, 37-59, 59-0, 71-33); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 5-1 (69-63, 67-51, 58-11, 13-59, 79-35, 80-14); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-2 (53-23, 74-44, 29-76, 49-23, 66-16, 36-61, 80-13).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Quarter-finals: (Best of nine frames) at 10am:

Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Mohammad Faheem (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Abu Saim (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Mohammad Asif (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, October 11th , 2015

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