ISLAMABAD: Defending champion Naseem Akhtar outclassed Islamabad’s Fahad Ghaffar on Wednesday in a lopsided fixture to move into the Jubilee Insurance National U-21 Snooker Championship quarter-final here at Pakistan Sports Complex’s Billiards and Snooker Hall.

The match between Raees Ali Usama and Ahsan Ramzan of Punjab, however, turned out to be highlight of the day as both players stayed in close competition for seven frames before Raees took it 4-3 (29-74, 22-65, 54-43, 23-70, 74-48, 64-16, 57-52).

Naseem trumped Ghaffar 4-1 (70-04, 75-8(75), 11-52, 63-43, 69-10). His victory was also decorated with a break of 75 during the second frame.

Like Naseem and Raees, six other players, including last year’s runner-up Haris Tahir, after winning their matches moved into the quarter-finals.

Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir, Usman Ahmed, Mohammad Shahbaz, Mohammad Umer Khan all from Punjab and Ali Zaman Khan of Sindh were the other players who went through to the quarters.

No player from KPK, Balochistan and Islamabad could reach last-eight.

Results:

Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punab) bt Abdul Aziz (Balochistan) 4-2 (65-24, 49-28, 39-59, 57-31, 36-69, 76-15); Usman Ahmed (Punjab) bt Rabish Pervaiz (Balochistan) 4-2 (53-62, 67-40, 51-36, 53-40, 14-69, 66-50); Muhammad Shahbaz (Punjab) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-3 (39-52, 64-18, 57-47, 52-31, 29-62, 20-56, 60-41); Raees Ali Usama (Punjab) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 4-3 (29-74, 22-65, 54-43, 23-70, 74-48, 64-16, 57-52); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Fahad Ghaffar (Islamabad) 4-1 (70-04, 75-8(75), 11-52, 63-43, 69-10) Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) bt Usman Khurshid (KPK) 4-0 (66-06, 56-8, 90-14(58), 50-0); M. Umar Khan (Punjab) bt Shahzaib Malik (Punjab) 4-1 (80-28, 63-25, 58-26, 50-80, 67-19); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Hamza Aftab (KPK) 4-0; (74-29, 74-25, 74-19, 74-07).

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2018