Naseem cruises into last-16 at U-21 snooker

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Naseem cruises into last-16 at U-21 snooker

Kashif Abbasi Published January 16, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Hamza Aftab of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in action against Sindh’s Sheheryar Khan during their match at the National Junior U-21 Snooker Championship on Monday.

ISLAMABAD: Keeping his supremacy intact, defending champion Naseem Akhtar outclassed Aqib Nawaz to qualify for the pre-quarterfinals of the U-21 Jubilee Insurance Snooker Championship here at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Monday.

Punjab’s Naseem, who is also IBSF World Junior U-18 champion, was in fine touch as he comfortably defeated Aqib of Sindh 3-0 (67-36, 79-02, 78-16).

Apart from Naseem, top seed Umar Farooq and last year’s runner-up Mohammad Haris Tahir, both of Punjab, also reached the pre-quarterfinals.

Others who made the last-16 phase include Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh); Raees Ali Usama (Punjab), Hamza Aftab (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Usman Khurshid (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rabish Pervaiz (Balochistan), Fahad Ghaffar (Islamabad), Abdul Aziz and Shahzaib Malik, both of Balochistan.

Four more players will complete the last-16 lineup at the end of last league matches to be played on Tuesday.

Results: Usman Ahmed (Punjab) bt Atif Arshad (KP) 3-0 (65-30, 75-08, 57-20); Mohammad Rafiq (KP) bt Yasir Nouman (Sindh) 3-1 (1-0, 63-51, 41-59, 77-51); Sohaib Usman (Islamabad) bt Aqib Nawaz (Sindh) 3-0 (53-43, 58-36, 61-44); Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Altaf Hussain (Balochistan) 3-0 (48-11, 83-29, 64-20); Usman Khurshid (KP) bt Syed Adil Shah (Balochistan) 3-1 (61-33, 28-59, 56-13, 54-26); Rabish Pervez (Balochistan) bt Bilal Ali Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (63-52, 46-11, 82-15); Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) bt Fahad Ghaffar (Islamabad) 3-1 (55-42, 57-49, 53-67, 52-32); Fahad Ali (KP) bt Siddiq Khan (Sindh) 3-2 (17-51, 63-55, 19-44, 49-42, 76-31); Yasir Ahmed (Balochistan) bt Umar Farooq (Punjab) 3-2 (49-64, 44-49, 67-26, 59-21, 66-02); Hamza Aftab (KP) bt Sheheryar Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (57-22, 48-22, 46-22); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Aqib Nawaz (Sindh) 3-0 (67-36, 79-02, 78-16); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 3-0 (76-50, 83-17, 60-17); Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) bt Sheikh Ahmed (KP) 3-2 (51-41, 50-61, 61-28, 51-56, 56-07); Raees Ali Usama (Punjab) bt Mohammad Mehmood Ahmed (Islamabad) 3-1 (66-27, 60-27, 14-54, 45-43); Usman Ahmed (Punjab) bt Sohaib Usman (Islamabad) 3-1 (50-13, 96-01, 35-53, 69-05); Mohammad Rafiq (KP) bt Altaf Hussain (Balochistan) 3-0 (55-04, 51-44, 55-40).

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018

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Kashif Ali Abbasi is an Islamabad-based reporter for Dawn with 17 years of experience in journalism. He covers sports, the education sector, and civic issues. He can be found on X at @AbbasiKashif833.

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