KARACHI: Haris Tahir, who annexed national under-18 title at Lahore earlier this month, was on song again as he overcame his opponent William Laffourgue by 3-2 in the group B opener while two seeded cueists suffered defeats on the opening day of the Eighth National Under-21 Snooker Championship at a local hotel on Tuesday.

Haris, who is unseeded in the event, conjured up three splendid breaks – 41, 44, 50 – in the first, third and fifth frames to register 72-22, 39-54, 81-16, 26-52, 75-23 win.

Two other outsiders who caught the eye were Mohammad Saqib and Mohammad Ahmed who stunned third seed Azam Khan and fifth seed Usama Qureshi respectively.

Saqib sent Azam packing 3-1 (54-63, 65-15, 82-63, 66-35) while Ahmed was home straight against Usama (57-47, 57-24, 62-50).

Meanwhile, other seeded players including top seed Abdul Javaid, second seed Ghawish Khan and fourth seed Mohammad Ibrahim coasted to convincing victories.

Results:

Abdul Javaid (Punjab) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 3-1 (86-27, 66-33, 50-59, 62-45); Ghawish Khan (Sindh) bt Hammad Shaikh (Sindh) 3-0 (65-40, 65-18, 75-30); Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) bt M.Azam Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (54-63, 65-15, 82-63, 66-35); Mohammad Ibrahim (Balochistan) bt Mohammad Aftab (Balochistan) 3-0 (61-29, 54-25, 68-17); Mohammad Ahmed (Punjab) bt Usama Qurashi (Islamabad) 3-0 (57-47, 57-24, 62-50); Mohammad Afzaal (Punjab) bt Taimoor Aftab (Balochistan) 3-0 (56-32, 56-38, 67-36); S.M. Suleman Shah (Sindh) bt M.Junaid Akhtar (Khyber Pakhtunkkhwa) 3-0 (58-31, 43-19, 56-15); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt William Laffourgue (Islamabad) 3-2 (72-22, 39-54, 81-16, 26-52, 75-23); Mohammad Adil (Balochistan) bt Zubair Shamsi (Sindh) 3-0 (61-26, 71-9, 70-12); Usama Haneef (Punjab) bt Hammad Rasool (Islamabad) 3-0 (68-25, 53-50, 64-29); Rabish Parvaiz (Balochistan) bt Hashir Siddique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-2 (57-46, 35-43, 53-25, 60-80, 53-2); Tanveer Baloch (Sindh) bt Fareed Firdous (Sindh) 3-0 (57-52, 72-29, 48-49); Maaz A.Samad (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Farooq (Balochistan) 3-0 (48-36, 54-11, 56-24); Adil Zafar (Punjab) bt Nematullah (Balochistan) 3-0 (50-13, 59-8, 81-4); Hamza Ali (Sindh) bt Hassan Ali Adnan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (34-56, 64-12, 93-14, 79-64).

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2016