KARACHI: Reigning national champion and top seed Mohammad Asif erased the highest break of Sharjeel Mehmood within 24-hours while hammering a brilliant 138 in the fourth frame and notching up straight victory over Islamabad’s Rashid Mehmood Abbasi to stretch his winning streak in group ‘A’ at the 10th National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex on Tuesday.

The former world amateur snooker champion’s break came in the fourth frame as he won the match 70-16, 65-64, 96-33,138-4 to post third straight victory.He is drawn to face Agha Bilawal in his last fixture on Thursday.

It may be mentioned that Sharjeel had caught the limelight with his sterling break of 131 against Farhan Noor the other day.

Third seed Babar Masih who was caught on the wrong foot by veteran Imran Shehzad with a straight whitewash in the opening fixture on Sunday, also entered his name among century break performers with 109 against Mohammad Ijaz in the third frame as he won 82-30, 60-41, 109-0, 61-18.

Besides Asif, second seed Mohammad Bilal, who lost the final of the National Championship to the top seed, is unbeaten in group B so far. He survived scare against former Pakistan No 1 Khurram Agha registering 4-2 victory. Trailing down by two frames Agha fought back with back-to-back breaks of 72 and 95 in the third and fourth frames to drew level at two-all but could not maintain and lost 2-4. Bilal was home 65-40, 60-48, 66-85, 0-95, 54-18, 61-21.

Results:

Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (73-18, 41-81, 83-1, 14-56, 68-37, 87-33); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab) 4-2 (71-57, 31-66, 54-41, 34-86, 75-32, 77-8); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-1 (26-88, 94-25, 71-43, 62-39, 64-12); Qadeer Abbas (Punjab) bt Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) 4-1 (76-44, 40-68, 66-56, 88-22, 68-33); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-2 (31-77, 67-44, 67-41, 48-81, 71-35, 67-60); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Abdullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (57-66, 52-56, 13-60, 61-26, 67-25, 78-28, 85-10); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Abdul Javaid (Punjab) 4-0 (69-50, 73-32, 81-43, 71-34); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (68-47, 20-97, 53-46, 62-33, 23-66, 71-40); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad) 4-0 (70-16, 65-64, 96-33, 138-4); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) 4-2 (65-40, 60-48, 66-85, 0-95, 54-18, 61-21); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-0 (82-30, 60-41, 109-0, 61-18); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (75-22, 38-73, 69-9, 54-34, 74-8); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (91-1, 61-66, 67-27, 84-24, 54-52); Ali Haider (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-1 (70-23, 67-52, 68-34, 0-71, 56-7); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-2 (58-16, 94-1, 54-66, 67-35, 0-82, 51-45); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (45-42, 57-43, 53-57, 64-59, 18-50, 47-38).

Monday’s remaining result:

Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (58-60, 32-83, 75-44, 64-33, 61-33, 59-13).

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) v Umair Alam (Sindh); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Abdullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Haris Tahir (Punjab) v Abdul Javaid (Punjab); Usman Ahmad (Punjab) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 12noon: Ian Mark John (Sindh) v Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab); Mohammad Umar (Punjab) v Imran Shehzad (Punjab); Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) v Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

At 2pm: Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Mubashir Raza (Punjab); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Farhan Noor (Punjab).

At 4pm: Agha Bilawal (Sindh) v Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Khurram H. Agha (Sindh); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab); Qadeer Abbas (Punjab) v Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2018