KARACHI: Former national junior (under-21) champion and wildcard Mohammad Ahsan Javaid overcame Musaddiq Mehmood in a thrilling battle that went full distance to stay in contention for a place in the last-16 knockout round of the 42nd National Snooker Championship at the Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday.

Needing just one frame to win the battle, Javaid, who hails from Sialkot, conceded the next three in a row before making a comeback to win the decisive frame and the match 4-3. The scores were 63-34, 66-39, 56-34, 51-74, 9-51, 7-39, 67-19;

He had won four of the five games losing one to top seed Mohammad Bilal. He is slated to meet former Asian junior No 2 Mohammad Majid Ali in his last group A clash on Thursday at 12noon. One of these two is likely to join the top seed in the pre quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, the seeded quartet — Bilal, Babar, Sajjad and Sohail — conjured up their fifth straight victories on Wednesday.

Former Pakistan No 1 Imran Shehzad piled up a century break of 103 in the third frame while routing Sultan Mohammad 4-1. He was home 67-42, 60-53, 111-11 57-80, 64-27.

Results:

Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Ahmed Shah (Balochistan) 4-3 (15-81, 52-57, 7-61, 65-39, 68-45, 69-51, 74-40); Shahid Shafiq (Punjab) bt Aamir Shehzad (Punjab) 4-1 (23-100, 73-43, 69-25, 65-36, 61-49); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-3 (36-71, 69-11, 16-67, 65-13, 62-76, 72-10, 66-7); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) 4-2 (71-38, 25-59, 68-35, 67-41, 28-67, 52-16); Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan) 4-3 (31-53, 35-66, 32-62, 63-18, 56-44, 54-37, 56-32); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (64-28, 58-22, 114-1, 34-53, 33-66, 1-97, 67-60); Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Naeem Jaffar (Balochistan) 4-3 (28-63, 55-12, 58-49, 41-48, 11-73, 64-37, 55-35); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) 4-0 (72-2, 85-14, 74-37, 73-32); Hunain Amir (Punjab) bt Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (45-59, 63-61, 86-67, 33-65, 120-0, 67-0); Mohammad Afzaal (Punjab) bt Umair Zulfiqar (Islamabad) 4-2 (54-61, 63-9, 61-37, 55-30, 52-62, 76-19); Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Allah Noor (Balochistan) 4-0 (55-20, 74-6, 48-47, 59-53); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (71-36, 70-6, 71-52, 79-2); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) 4-2 (48-85, 41-64, 73-36, 90-36, 75-24, 63-17); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (48-74, 111-4, 63-13, 85-23, 61-67, 52-22); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Munawwar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-0 (86-25, 75-24, 69-23, 67-60);Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) 4-0 (55-26, 78-53, 81-38, 76-56); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (97-14, 88-45, 92-0, 55-35); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (65-19, 98-11, 61-16, 53-77, 0-71, 59-27); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-0 (71-45, 83-13, 64-20, 71-10); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) 4-3 (63-34, 66-39, 56-34, 51-74, 9-51, 7-39, 67-19); Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) bt Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (69-22, 70-25, 56-14, 67-26); Umer Farooq (Punjab) bt Zahoor Ahmed (Balochistan) 4-3 (58-44, 32-56, 73-7, 45-64, 38-65, 72-37, 90-6); Hunain Amir (Punjab) bt Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (72-40, 70-5, 1-52, 87-0, 16-55, 27-49, 61-41); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Allah Noor (Balochistan) 4-0 (77-13, 62-43, 54-25, 67-58); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-1 (67-42, 60-53, 111-11 57-80, 64-27); Zeeshan Raza (Punjab) bt Mohammad Naeem Jaffar (Balochistan) 4-2 (69-33, 63-76, 62-24, 4-66, 80-24, 47-17); Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-2 (80-9, 79-29, 43-58, 7-72, 65-29, 62-22); Umair Zulfiqar (Islamabad) bt Shahid Shafiq (Punjab) 4-2 (77-1, 60-51, 48-43, 0-66, 45-61, 85-0).

Thursday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Rafiq v Mohammad Asif Toba, Mohammad Yousuf v Haris, Mohammad Naseem Akhtar v Farhan Khan, Abu Saim v Nadir Miraan, Mohammad Ijaz v Ahmed Shah, Shahid Aftab v Aamir Shehzad, Sharjeel Mehmood v Mohammad Uzair Aziz.

At 12noon: Mohammad Majid Ali v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, Saeed Ahmed v Mohammad Saqib, Mohammad Imran v Sultan Mohammad, Mohammad Ishtiaq v Zeeshan Raza, Abdul Raziq v Fazal Umer Butt, Sattar v Sirbuland Khan, Amir Sohail v Mubashir Raza.

At 2pm: Umer Farooq v Aakash Rafique, Mohammad Rafique v Khurram Agha, Haris v Bahadur Khan, Mohammad Naseem Akhtar v Munawar Khaliq, Abu Saim v Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir, Mohammad Ijaz v Shah Khan, Shahid Aftab v Agha Bilawal.

At 4pm: Asjad Iqbal v Amir Sohail, Mohammad Afzaal v Shahid Shafiq, Sharjeel Mehmood v Farhan Noor, Musaddiq Mehmood v Zahoor Ahmed, Fawad Khan v Mohammad Asif Toba, Imran Shehzad v Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammad Naeem Jaffer v Farhan Khan.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2017