KARACHI: At least five cueists including three unseeded ones have strengthened their chances of making it to the knockout round of the eighth national under-21 snooker championship at a local hotel on Thursday.

The cueists, who hail from Punjab, have maintained an unbeaten run in their respective groups after winning three matches a piece at the end of the third day.

Besides top seed Abdul Javaid, the quartet includes Haris Tahir, Mohammad Saqib, Mohammad Ahmed, and Mohammad Afzaal.

Having beaten Abdul Raheem and S. M. Suleman Shah, Javaid handed out a crushing 3-0 defeat to Maaz A. Samad (68-20, 71-19, 78-35) to keep his winning run intact in group A. Similarly, sixth seed Afzaal remained in contention by getting the better of Abubakar Jamil in the fully stretched battle (65-4, 23-50, 39-69, 62-50, 77-26).

He had beaten Taimoor Aftab and Fareed Firdous straight in the previous group F matches.

Reigning national under-18 champion Haris, Saqib and Ahmed also won their matches.

Results: Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) bt M. Faheem Nazeer (Punjab) 3-2 (23-54, 74-54, 82-14, 40-60, 66-35); Hassan Ali Adnan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Aftab (Balochistan) 3-1 (70-34, 18-55, 55-21, 76-57); Mohammad Ahmed (Punjab) bt Muzammil Khan (Sindh) 3-2 (71-22, 48-15, 8-64, 31-65, 85-26); Abubakar Jamil (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Taimoor Aftab (Balochistan) 3-1 (52-59, 64-26, 51-7, 60-54); Abdul Javaid (Punjab) bt Maaz A. Samad (Islamabad) 3-0 (68-20, 71-19, 78-35); Ghawish Khan (Sindh) bt Nematullah (Balochistan) (walkover); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Adil Zafar (Punjab) 3-0 (62-27, 62-14, 73-44); S. M. Suleman Shah (Sindh) bt Mohammad Farooq (Balochistan) 3-0 (57-15, 69-19, 52-41); Muzammil Khan (Sindh) bt Usama Qureshi (Islamabad) 3-1 (34-66, 74-6, 52-23, 92-64); Mohammad Afzaal (Punjab) bt Abubakar Jamil (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-2 (65-4, 23-50, 39-69, 62-50, 77-26); Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt M. Junaid Akhtar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (first frame awarded to Raheem, 64-34, 70-16); William Leffourgue (Islamabad) bt Hammad Shaikh (Sindh) 3-1 (36-57, 66-33, 70-52, 67-23); Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) bt Mohammad Adil (Punjab) 3-0 (50-25, 73-72, 76-35); Hammad Rasool (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Aftab (Balochistan) 3-0 (58-37, 52-35, 50-48); Mohammad Ahmed (Punjab) bt Hashir Siddique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (41-56, 54-15, 59-24, 76-30); Tanveer Baloch (Sindh) bt Taimoor Aftab (Balochistan) 3-0 (85-8, 58-10, 83-39).

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2016