KARACHI: Seven cueists have bright prospects to make it to the knockout quarter-finals of the Jubilee Insurance third ranking snooker championship at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

Those who have come up with good performance in their respective group so far include Asjad Iqbal, Khurram Hussain Agha (A), Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Bilal (B), Mubashir Raza, Babar Masih (C) and Mohammad Asif (D).

The remaining one spot in Group ‘D’ is wide open and will be filled by the quartet of M. Naseem Akhtar, Abdul Sattar, Majid Ali and Zulfiqar Qadir.

Half-a-dozen cueists who are unbeaten include Asjad, Khurram, Shahid, Bilal, Babar and Asif.

Some of the senior players who have failed to come up to the mark are Sohail Shahzad, Shahram Changezi, Mohammad Ijaz, and Mohammad Sajjad. They all are in hot water and won’t be able to go beyond the league matches.

The league matches conclude on Tuesday and the knockout stage begins the following day.

Results:

Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (77-0, 67-32, 66-18, 61-18); M. Ahsan Javiad (Punjab) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-0 (84-43, 68-53, 57-23, 66-33); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Sheikh M. Mudassir (Punjab) 4-2 (55-1, 65-16, 42-61, 95-25, 20-69, 86-72); M. Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-2 (83-0, 6-58, 69-24, 56-42, 58-70, 45-12); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-0 (63-51, 62-36, 68-31, 94-30); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Haris Tahir (Punjab) 4-2 (90-28, 28-71, 78-45, 89-13, 6-63, 64-25); Nadir Miraan (Punjab) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (86-7, 59-53, 13-80, 58-48, 67-68, 55-20); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-2 (73-53, 40-68, 21-74, 69-33, 51-37, 96-0); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-2 (71-23, 70-36, 60-59, 15-87, 28-94, 56-40); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 4-0 (73-32, 60-7, 71-45, 80-19); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-3 (48-63, 56-70, 69-41, 103-1, 52-12, 33-67, 59-0); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-1 (67-42, 46-56, 104-1(88), 76-0, 58-53).

Saturday’s remaining results:

Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-0 (79-24, 72-41, 59-37, 82-13); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt M. Ahsan Javiad (Punjab) 4-3 (56-73, 82-0, 85-34, 56-65, 129-0, 0-89, 74-16); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-2 (54-26, 61-14, 36-70, 66-17, 24-96, 94-0); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-2 (45-74, 66-50, 72-30, 9-63, 97-7, 84-0); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 (32-70, 95-29, 57-31, 35-71, 69-20, 48-78, 82-36); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 4-0 (74-24, 67-28, 58-41, 55-18); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (68-48, 78-20, 65-10, 32-60, 70-16); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (14-100, 87-23, 51-53, 74-53, 64-30, 48-74, 64-16).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) v Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Haris Tahir (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab) v Nadir Miraan (Punjab), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab).

At 12noon: Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) v Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), M. Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) v Abu Sam (Punjab), Imran Shahzad (Punjab) v Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) v Sharjeel Mahmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 2pm: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) v Babar Masih (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Mohammad Asif (Punjab).

At 4pm: Agha Bilawal (Sindh) v Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Haris Tahir (Punjab) v M. Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Nadir Miraan (Punjab) v Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh).

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2017