KARACHI: Displaying awesome form over the last five days, six more outsiders, along with four seeded cueists completed the pre-quarter-final line-up as league matches in the 10th National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship concluded at the bank’s sports complex on Thursday.

Three seeded and as many outsiders have already stepped into the last-16 round the other day.

The seeded players who failed to go beyond the league include fifth seed Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, sixth seed Sultan Mohammad, seventh seed Ali Haider, ninth seed Abdul Sattar, 11th seed Naseem Akhtar, 13th seed Qadeer Abbas, 14th seed Sohail Shehzad, 15th seed Shahid Aftab and 16th seed Agha Bilawal.

The outsiders who made their mark and surged into the knockout round are Rambel Gul (19th), Mohammad Ijaz (22nd), Khurram Agha (23rd), Haris Tahir (26th), Mohammadd Asif Toba (27th), Sharjeel Mehmood (33rd), Umair Alam (36th), M. Shahbaz (37th) and Sirbuland Khan (40th).

Three cueists — top two seeds Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Bilal and the defending champion Asjad Iqbal — remained unbeaten in their respective groups.

Meanwhile, three more century breaks were registered by Khurram Agha (100) Mohammad Sajjad (118) and Asjad Iqbal (108) on Thursday.

Results:

Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-3 (64-19, 65-46, 55-56, 54-42, 52-60, 39-57, 61-49); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 (9-66, 23-67, 66-7, 60-21, 28-72, 68-67, 69-34); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-2 (71-25, 58-4, 29-89, 0-67, 89-37,

60-42); Farhan Noor (Punjab) bt Usman Ahmad (Punjab) 4-2 (38-63, 69-36, 46-68, 71-8, 53-39, 75-21); Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-2 (60-36, 25-67, 61-64, 67-32, 61-37, 49-41); Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-3 (121-7, 89-16, 47-79, 63-23, 1-118, 55-63, 63-29); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Mohammad Umar (Pjunba) 4-0 (63-20, 81-7, 54-21, 67-0); Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) 4-0 (62-54, 68-16, 63-1, 51-7); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-1 (73-14, 74-30, 66-26, 49-58, 68-1); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-3 (65-46, 72-18, 6-63, 66-41, 24-48, 37-67, 54-40); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-0 (91-10, 81-22, 108-12(, 60-59); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (0-91, 34-58, 54-49, 29-65, 69-6, 69-1, 58-11); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-3 (5-71, 63-29, 31-53, 52-26, 18-63, 79-29, 74-64); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Qadeer Abbas (Punjab) 4-2 (22-54, 75-13, 69-38, 63-16, 12-83, 56-53); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (98-19, 24-75, 36-68, 95-14, 68-37, 61-54); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 4-3 (26-69, 57-18, 61-51, 7-85, 65-45, 13-69, 74-64).

Wednesday’s remaining result:

Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Qadeer Abbas (Punjab) 4-1 (64-41, 29-64, 64-60, 73-54, 73-51).

Group positions on completion of league matches

Group A: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Group B: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Khurram Agha (Sindh).

Group C: Babar Masih (Punjab), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab)

Group D: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab)

Group E: Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Umair Alam (Sindh)

Group F: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Group G: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab)

Group H: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Friday’s fixtures:

Pre quarter-finals (best of nine frames)

At 11am: Mohammad Asif v Khurram Agha; Haris Tahir v Zulfiqar A. Qadir; Aakash Rafique v Mohammad Shahbaz.

At 2.30pm: Mohammad Ijaz v Mohammad Asif Toba; Mohammad Bilal v Umair Alam; Rambel Gul v Babar Masih; Mohammad Majid Ali v Sirbuland Khan; Sharjeel Mehmood v Asjad Iqbal.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2018