KARACHI: Three seeded players bit the dust on the very first day of the third national ranking snooker championship which sprung into action at Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Third seed Mohammad Majid Ali, former Asian junior runner-up, was the first to fall to Sindh’s Umair Alam 2-4 in the first session of the day. The local cueist was home 24-59, 50-42, 73-44, 8-119, 48-40, 70-57.

Talented Haris Tahir, who lost the Asian under-21 final to Myanmar’s Aung Phyo 4-6 in March, cut National Bank Cup champion and fifth seed Mohammad Ijaz to size with a scintillating 4-0 victory. He won the duel 62-42, 73-58, 84-33, 69-37.

Haris, however, went down to fourth seed Mohammad Bilal in his second match in the fully stretched battle 3-4.

In an all-Sindh encounter, outsider Abdul Sattar shocked sixth seed Zulfiqar A. Qadir, who finished runner-up of the same event last year, straight the score being 59-42, 46-18, 68-40, 57-32.

Meanwhile, top seed Mohammad Asif, second seed Babar Masih and the fourth seed Bilal were on song winning both their opening day’s matches.

Asif, the defending champion, sent Sirbuland Khan packing straight in his opening match and then came out 4-0 victorious against Agha Bilawal.

Babar, meanwhile, survived scare in both the matches against junior cueists Mohammad Shahbaz and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar 4-3 respectively.

Results:

Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (72-36, 58-20, 66-53, 69-15); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) 4-3 (63-72, 24-83, 66-28, 81-41, 48-60, 59-21, 67-20); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-2 (24-59, 50-42, 73-44, 8-119, 48-40, 70-57); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-2 (37-66, 68-21, 64-44, 45-32, 45-58, 58-15); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-1 (44-56, 48-39, 70-23, 64-7, 66-30); Aakash Rafique (K) bt Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-2 (37-66, 68-21, 64-44, 45-32, 45-58, 58-15); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-0 (59-42, 46-18, 68-40, 57-32); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-0 (62-42, 73-58, 84-33, 69-37); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-2 (69-44, 4-82, 72-64, 31-84, 60-53, 74-8); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) 4-2 (36-46, 43-57, 69-7, 58-55, 72-0, 62-56); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-0 (68-51, 55-25, 67-38, 50-3); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-3 (42-71, 62-57, 71-51, 6-71, 11-70, 104-1, 69-7); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-0 (66-12, 69-34, 67-43, 80-45); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (15-91, 73-17, 71-23, 55-48, 2-59, 69-26). Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Haris Tahir (Punjab) 4-3 (76-55, 0-86, 66-6, 52-65, 35-65, 63-55, 58-22); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-3 (57-62, 16-71, 37-58, 66-58, 61-15, 71-16, 70-21);

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) v Umair Alam (Sindh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) v Ali Haider (Punjab).

At 12noon: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Shahid Aftab (Punjab).

At 2pm: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Khurram H. Agha (Sindh), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) v Sultan Mohammad (Sindh).

At 4pm: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Muhammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) v Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Haris Tahir (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2018