KARACHI: Top seed and national champion Mohammad Sajjad on Friday became the first major casualty when he was knocked out on the last day of the league matches in the ninth National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Cup at the bank’s sports complex.

Sajjad, the silver medalist of the IBSF team event in Egypt recently with his pupil Asjad Iqbal, met his fate after losing his second consecutive group match to former Sindh champion Mohammad Ishtiaq 2-4 (46-63, 58-51, 71-48, 1-100, 56-48, 49-15).

This was Ishtiaq’s maiden victory over the three-time national champion that also earned him a place in the pre quarter-finals.

It is pertinent to mention that Sajjad had lost to Agha Bilawal, also from Sindh, straight the other day.

Three more outsiders — Shah Khan, Sharjeel Mahmood and Zulfiqar A. Qadir have also cruised into the last-16 round making the number of outsiders to six. Bilawal, Haris Tahir and Majid Ali have made it to the last-16 the other day.

Apart from Sajjad, other seeded cueists who could not go beyond the league were former Pakistan No 1 and the third seed Khurram Agha, fourth seed Nadir Miraan, seventh seed Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, eighth seed Shahram Changezi and Mohammad Imran.

Meanwhile, Pakistan No 2 Asjad also survived a scare when he tasted a stunning 2-4 defeat at the hands of Punjab’s upcoming Mubashir Raza (69-32, 3-47, 72-38, 91-1, 48-62, 89-20) in his last group B fixtures.

It may be mentioned that Raza had made his debut in this year’s national championship in March.

Meanwhile, the pre quarter-finals will be played on Saturday in two sessions.

Qualifiers:

Groups:

A: .Acha Bilawal (Sindh), Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh)

B: Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab)

C: Haris Tahir (Punjab), A.Sattar (Sindh)

D: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

E: Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab)

F: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh)

G: Babar Masih (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

H: Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab)

Results:

Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-1 (33-67, 62-23, 45-44, 1-0, 1-0); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-3 (50-52, 64-27, 67-77, 39-64, 69-9, 85-12, 78-17); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-2 (71-25, 25-95, 63-11, 34-83, 68-49, 60-39); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-1 (63-16, 65-15, 52-21, 40-65, 65-24); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-2 (37-64, 70-63, 9-60, 49-44, 75-30, 85-28); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-3 (0-96, 44-76, 44-81, 62-57, 98-0, 57-2, 70-28); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-1 (56-54, 56-4, 34-68, 133-11, 56-14); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) 4-2 (65-31, 32-76, 125-0, 64-43, 55-66, 59-18);Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-2 (46-63, 58-51, 71-48, 1-100, 56-48, 49-15); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-2 (69-32, 3-47, 72-38, 91-1, 48-62, 89-20); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) 4-1 (70-49, 84-5, 49-58, 59-42, 70-27); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Nadir Mirran (Punjab) 4-2 (66-0, 15-68, 32-93, 61-9, 70-56, 64-35).

Saturday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Pre quarter-finals (best of nine frames):

Agha Bilawal (Sindh) v A.Sattar (Sindh); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Babar Masih (Punjab); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Mubashir Raza (Punjab).

At 1pm: Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) v Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab); Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) v Haris Tahir (Punjab); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Asjad Iqbal (Punajb) v Mohammad Asif (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2017