KARACHI: After the elimination of Abdul Sattar, two more seeded cueists Mohammad Sajjad and Shahram Changezi followed suit as the third ranking snooker cup entered the semi-final stage at hotel Movenpick on Tuesday.

The trio is part of the four-member team that leaves for Egyptian city of Hurghada on Nov 9 to compete in the world amateur snooker spectacle. Former world champion Mohammad Asif is the fourth member.

Sixth seed Mohammad Bilal, losing semi-finalists of the NBP Cup last month, was on a break-building spree as he conjured up two elegant century and as many half-century breaks while routing second seed Sajjad 5-3.

Bilal looked aggressive from the word go and didn’t allowed Sajjad to settle piling breaks of 105, 87 and 71 in the first three frames and 100 in the sixth as he won 105-4, 87-39, 71-0, 7-78, 0-93, 101-0, 55-63, 57-27.

Bilal is drawn to meet top seed Asif in the second semi-final on Wednesday as the latter who has regained form by capturing the NBP Cup, swept aside fifth seed Changezi 5-2 in style (80-22, 53-28, 23-61, 62-76, 87-1, 73-15, 63-44).

In minor upsets, Babar Masih, the 14th seed, accounted for 11th seed and former national champion Shahid Aftab 5-2 (74-49, 75-32, 45-62, 74-41, 76-1, 70-79, 64-61) and takes on youthful Mohammad Majid Ali in the first semi-final as the latter coasted to a similar 5-2 victory over Sharjeel Mehmood. The scores were (68-37, 37-76, 67-15, 68-61, 54-20, 13-67, 77-16).

Results:

Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) 5-2 (80-22, 53-28, 23-61, 62-76, 87-1, 73-15, 63-44); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 5-3 (105-4, 87-39, 71-0, 7-78, 0-93, 101-0, 55-63, 57-27); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 5-2 (74-49, 75-32, 45-62, 74-41, 76-1, 70-79, 64-61); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-2 (68-37, 37-76, 67-15, 68-61, 54-20, 13-67, 77-16).

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: (first semi-final) Babar Masih (Punjab) v Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab)

At 1pm: (second semi-final) Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Mohammad Bilal (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2015

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