KARACHI: Former Pakistan No.1 Imran Shahzad caught the limelight by slamming first century break as other seeded players faced tough resistance from opponents on the opening day of the 41st National Snooker Championship which commenced at a local hotel here on Monday.

Imran, who has made the top 12 cut in the national rankings, compiled the century (117) break in the fourth frame and three half-century breaks of 57 and 53 in the first and 51 in the third when he blanked former national champion Mohammad Asif Toba 110-31, 72-40, 81-44, 125-8.

Top two seeds — Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad — came from 1-2 down to post identical 4-2 wins over their respective opponents.

While the former accounted for Agha Bilawal 64-46, 36-82, 38-68, 67-24, 62-25, 64-25 the latter downed Mohammad Ijaz 81-19, 57-70, 8-85, 78-0, 88-0, 58-34.

Third seed Mohammad Bilal, fouth seed Shahram Changezi and fifth seed Mohammad Majid Ali also come under spotlight by cruising to win their duels 4-3.

Results:

Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (64-46, 36-82, 38-68, 67-24, 62-25, 64-25); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-2 (81-19, 57-70, 8-85, 78-0, 88-0, 58-34); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Iftekhar Khan (Sindh) 4-3 (76-35, 94-0, 22-54, 10-55, 63-39, 41-62, 65-43); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Aamir Shahzad

(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (77-29, 30-48, 24-62, 22-59, 59-25, 71-30, 67-37); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) 4-3 (30-69, 94-0, 95-78, 57-18, 36-65, 13-81, 60-36); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Hunain Amir (Punjab) 4-2 (39-61, 62-22, 53-56, 70-14, 61-16, 51-46); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) 4-1 (81-35, 64-51, 23-70, 53-32, 55-7); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Aqeel (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (66-41, 70-16, 36-67, 61-14, 70-41); Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-0 (110-31, 72-40, 81-44, 125-8); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Ubaid Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (58-17, 65-31, 105-15, 48-24); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-1 (30-56, 84-23, 56-14, 124-0, 71-8); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (70-44, 67-51, 77-14, 36-66, 43-21).

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2016