KARACHI: Five seeded cueists were knocked out making room for the unseeded ones as the quarter-final line-up was drawn in the third national ranking snooker championship at the Karachi Gymkhana billiards hall on Friday.

Three unseeded players including two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sharjeel Mehmood (B) and Rambel Gul (C) in addition to Haris Tahir (D) sneaked into the quarter-finals on completion of the league matches.

It may be mentioned that two unseeded players were among three namely Mohammad Asif Toba and Shahid Aftab, besides second seed Babar Masih, have stepped into the last eight the other day.

National champion and top seed Mohammad Asif and sixth seed Zulfiqar A. Qadir justified their billing by stepping into the next round.

The seeded cueists who met their fate include third seed Mohammad Majid Ali, fourth seed Mohammad Bilal, fifth seed Mohammad Ijaz, seventh seed Aakash Rafique and eighth seed Asjad Iqbal.

The last day of group matches witnessed some fierce encounters and surprise results. Three matches of the morning session went to full distance in which Sirbuland Khan ended the unbeaten run of Moahmmad Asif Toba with a 4-3 victory but to no avail. Khan had chalked up back-to-back victories over Sohail Shehzad and Agha Bilawal, both of Sindh, on Thursday.

Sharjeel overcame fighting Mohammad Shahbaz 4-3 that helped him propel into the next round.

In another match of less significance, Umair Alam accounted for Mohammad Ahsan Javaid 4-3.

Despite going down 1-4 to Abdul Sattar in his last match, Rambel Gul advanced into the quarters.

After losing four matches on trot, fifth seed Mohammad Ijaz, winner of the NBP Cup last month, won his first match upsetting fourth seed Mohammad Bilal 4-1 (72-25, 43-6, 64-57, 29-65, 53-23).

Meanwhile Babar Masih hammered a break of 104 in the last frame while routing Aakash Rafique 4-1 (67-28, 52-54, 68-32, 62-16, 110-20).

Results: Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 (51-28, 34-58, 7-72, 70-28, 30-64, 61-33, 63-53); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) 4-3 (76-32, 73-13, 6-72, 70-39, 30-71, 36-66, 80-31); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-3 (8-68, 11-77, 47-60, 78-50, 97-0, 65-41, 54-39); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-2 (84-1, 29-63, 45-55, 59-4, 77-1, 96-5); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-3 (63-36, 85-2, 86-39, 26-48, 32-74, 57-68, 104-1); Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-3 (39-75, 42-72, 13-41, 55-44, 70-36, 70-17, 61-43); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (68-19, 54-62, 42-13, 51-10, 58-45); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-3 (27-65, 46-75, 61-7, 74-1, 71-42, 30-56, 77-7); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-3 (12-62, 81-19, 31-67, 70-23, 11-93, 77-45, 24-20); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (67-28, 52-54, 68-32, 62-16, 110-20); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (110-11, 10-61, 30-62, 66-65, 75-36, 31-69, 66-42); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) 4-1 (72-25, 43-6, 64-57, 29-65, 53-23).

Thursday’s remaining results: Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (39-37, 5-60, 66-39, 54-44, 10-65, 33-66, 53-31).

Group position on completion of league matches.

A: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab).

B: Babar Masih (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

C: Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh).

D: Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab).

Saturday’s fixtures (at 10am):

Quarter-finals (best of nine frames): Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh); Babar Masih (Punjab) v Haris Tahir (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2018