ISLAMABAD: On the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance second National Junior U-18 Championship, the low-ranked Saud Khan from Punjab caused a big upset when he outclassed Sindh’s champion Sheraz Raza at the Pakistan Sports Complex’s Billiards and Snooker Hall here on Monday.

Ranked 9 in Punjab, Saud Khan overcame Sindh’s top ranked junior player Sheraz in straight games 3-0, sending shockwaves to other participating players.

Throughout the match, the Sargodha-based cueist did not allow his opponent to settle down and comfortably steal the straight-game victory 54-16, 65-15, 57-13, including 55 score break in the second set.

The top-ranked junior player from Punjab, Naseem Akhtar, and top cueist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sheikh Ahmad, however, managed to maintain their supremacy by comfortably winning their matches.

Naseem defeated Umar Farooq from Pujnab 3-0 with the game score being 56-48, 59-16, 60-55 and KP champion Sheikh Ahmad overcame Junaid Hassan of the same province 52-49, 46-08, 48-26.

Champion from Balochistan, Ikramullah, is not participating in the event because of health issues. On the opening day of the 10-day-long championship, a total of 16 matches were played.

Results:

Naseem Akhtar bt Umar Farooq 3-0 (56-48, 59-16, 60-55), Saud Khan from Punjad bt Sheraz Raza 3-0 (54-16, 65-15(55), 57-13), Sheikh Ahmad (KP) bt Junaid Hassan (KP) 3-0 (52-49, 46-08, 48-26), Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt A. Moiz Kashif (ISB) 3-1 (63-11, 42-49, 47-45, 73-12), Kamran Choudhry (ISB) bt Abdullah Rizwan (KP) 3-0 (67-64, 63-39, 54-05), Abdullah Saeed (Sindh) bt Munsif Uddin (KP) 3-2 (41-25, 24-45, 52-53, 58-23, 66-32), Umer Azhar (Punjab) bt M. Saqib Junior (Punjab) 3-0 (64-40, 45-08, 99-14), Shazaib Malik (Punjab) bt Faiz Ur Rehman (KP) 3-0 (51-33, 48-38, 78-48), Mubashir Khan (Punjab) bt M. Ahmad Ali (ISB) 3-1 (54-19, 39-58, 58-10, 52-40), Atif Arshad (KP) bt Annas Larik (ISB) 3-2 (59-32, 86-60, 23-50, 27-56, 47-42), M. Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) bt M. Ali (ISB) 3-0 (64-23, 78-32, 57-17), Raees Ali Usama (Punjab) bt Shehyar Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (95-18(52), 69-23(60), 41-59, 72-16), Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab) bt M. Abbas (ISB) 3-0 (76-06, 71-01, 60-10), Shawaiz Moris (KP) bt Mousa Navi (ISB) 3-2 (23-47, 49-63, 64-36, 42-27, 77-30), Rameen Ashraf (Sindh) bt M.Umair Khan (Balochistan) 3-1 (26-46, 64-36, 50-09, 51-45)

Published in Dawn January 17th, 2017