KARACHI: With four straight victories under their belts, seeded quartet comprising top seed Mohammad Bilal, second seed Babar Masih, fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad and the fifth seed Sohail Shehzad have ensured a berth in the knockout round (pre quarter-finals) of the 42nd National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Bilal gave a 4-1 drubbing to Musaddiq Mehmood (64-40, 33-72, 86-20, 93-1, 59-26) while Babar fought back from 1-3 down to turn the tables on Fawad Khan 4-3 the scores being 69-13, 25-69, 70-88, 0-78, 97-24, 57-47, 69-39.

Sajjad and Sohail sent Naeem Jaffer and Mohammad Faizan packing straight. While the former was home 67-56, 72-12, 71-14, 65-43 the latter routed his opponent 79-25, 56-7, 58-50, 63-59 to keep their winning run intact.

All the four are yet to play two more matches apiece in their respective groups to round off their engagements. The league concludes on Friday.

Meanwhile, four more century breaks highlighted the third day’s play. Shahid Aftab piled up a break of 115 against Shahid Shafiq, former Pakistan No 1 Imran Shehzad chalked up a splendid break of 135 in the opening frame as he lost to Mohammad Asif 2-4.

Islamabad’s Shahram Changezi also came up with a break of 106 against Umair Farooq while Farhan Noor compiled 132 against Amir Sohail.

The last three days have saw nine century and over breaks by players with local cueist Zulfiqar A. Qadir having the honour of scoring the highest break of 138 so far against Sattar.

Results:

Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-0 (80-8, 79-0, 69-29, 68-33); Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt Allah Noor (Balochistan) 4-0 (98-28, 66-30, 82-8, 64-21); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Haris (Punjab) 4-3 (67-21, 0-103, 30-86, 38-65, 60-45, 67-60, 76-20); Zeeshan Raza (Punjab) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-2 (72-22, 85-9, 10-69, 15-58, 55-45, 62-36); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) 4-0 (80-0, 69-49, 69-39, 54-28); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (41-60, 68-23, 70-20, 62-23, 44-66, 73-25); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Shahid Shafiq (Punjab) 4-2 (46-55, 52-24, 7-62, 115-0, 55-23, 61-13); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) 4-1 (64-40, 33-72, 86-20, 93-1, 59-26); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (69-13, 25-69, 70-88, 0-78, 97-24, 57-47, 69-39); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-2 (6-135, 66-24, 20-63, 106-0, 59-45, 75-0); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mohamamd Naeem Jaffar (Balochistan) 4-0 (67-56, 72-12, 71-14, 65-43); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-0 (79-25, 56-7, 58-50, 63-59); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Hunain Amir (Punjab) 4-1 (60-17, 55-62, 95-37, 44-9, 61-48,); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Umair Zulfiqar (Islamabad) 4-0 (117-5,78-17, 85-38, 67-20); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Allah Noor (Balochistan) 4-0 (94-16, 83-24, 63-10, 45-7); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (37-70, 50-69, 68-58, 65-39, 86-0, 64-31); Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) bt Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan) 4-0 (70-15, 53-42, 65-13, 62-20); Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) bt Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (55-42, 55-45,74-58, 64-50); Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) bt Munawwar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-2 (33-49, 58-49, 69-62, 0-72, 65-64, 61-33); Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) bt Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) 4-0 (74-8, 66-43, 70-47, 71-35); Sattar (Sindh) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (63-62, 9-69, 50-40, 84-13, 8-73, 63-40); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Mohammad Afzaal (Punjab) 4-3 (46-59, 36-56, 82-50, 69-31, 55-18, 14-67, 63-26); Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-3 (66-20, 12-72, 0-132, 62-9, 6-65, 55-28, 59-0); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Abdul Raheem (Punjab) 4-1 (62-25, 55-47, 40-70, 66-7,70-43); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) 4-1 (94-0, 38-76, 60-13, 102-1, 64-34); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-1 (86-6, 65-27, 22-67, 99-0, 63-13); Zeeshan Raza (Punjab) bt Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (62-20, 62-12, 75-50, 69-10); Nadir Miraan (Punjab) bt Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) 4-1 (124-8, 58-8, 50-74, 76-5, 67-34).

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Ahmed Shah v Sirbuland Khan, Aamir Shehzad v Shahid Shafiq, Mohammad Uzair Aziz v Mubashir Raza, Musaddiq Mehmood v Mohammad Majid Ali, Fawad Khan v Saeed Ahmed, Imran Shehzad v Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Naeem Jaffer v Mohammad Ishtiaq.

At 12noon: Mohammad Faizan v Abdul Raziq, Hunain Amir v Sattar, Umair Zulfiqar v Mohammad Afzaal, Allah Noor v Amir Sohail, Mohammad Bilal v Aakash Rafique, Babar Masih v Khurram Agha, Mohammad Asif v Bahadur Khan.

At 2pm: Mohammad Sajjad v Munawwar Khaliq, Sohail Shehzad v Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir, Zulfiqar A. Qadir v Shah Khan, Shahram Changezi v Agha Bilawal, Asjad Iqbal v Farhan Noor, Musaddiq Mehmood v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, Fawad Khan v Mohammad Saqib.

At 4pm: Umer Farooq v Zahoor Ahmed, Imran Shehzad v Sultan Mohammad, Mohammad Naeem Jaffer v Zeeshan Raza, Mohammad Uzair Aziz v Abdul Raheem, Hunain Amir v Sirbuland Khan, Umair Zulfiqar v Shahid Shafiq, Allah Noor v Mubashir Raza.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2017