KARACHI: Two unseeded cueists joined the top two seeds as the third national ranking snooker championship reached the semi-finals at the Karachi Gymkhana billiards hall on Saturday.

The quartet who cruised into the last four include top seed and defending champion Mohammad Asif, second seed Babar Masih, unseeded Mohammad Asif Toba and Sharjeel Mehmood.

Top seed Asif showed patience and recovered from 1-2 down to post an exciting 5-2 victory over sixth seed Zulfiqar A. Qadir. The scores were 77-10, 35-68, 45-63, 106-9, 63-1, 70-62, 60-21. The triumph includes two brilliant breaks of 70 and 55 in the first and fourth frames.

Asif will be up against second seed Babar Masih in the second semi-final after the latter accounted for talented Haris Tahir in the agonising encounter 5-4.

The Rawalpindi-based Babar made comeback thrice to draw level four-all before winning the decisive ninth frame. Haris also hogged limelight cracking a century break, fifth of the event so far, in the second frame.

Babar, on the other hand, compiled three half century breaks of 63, 54 and 55 in the fourth, sixth and ninth frames.

Babar won the duel 3-72, 5-108, 95-35, 67-39, 56-67, 71-51, 25-56, 68-58, 67-14.

The remaining two quarter-finals played between unseeded players produced contrasting results. In a match between two former national champions, Mohammad Asif Toba sent Shahid Aftab packing 5-1 to stay in contention for the title while Sharjeel Mehmood was stretched to limits by Rambel Gul before registering 5-4 victory.

Toba, who won the national title in 2014, conceded just one frame while winning the battle 56-53, 69-18, 61-25, 5-76, 59-0, 58-15 with ease over his opponent who annexed the national title in 2011..

Asif Toba will be pitted against Sharjeel Mehmood in the first semi-final as the latter overcome fighting Rambel Gul in all-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa affair 5-4.

After a see-saw battle until the eighth frame Sharjeel was home 7-73, 59-22, 55-36, 73-0, 3-69, 26-78, 61-41, 54-74, 70-38.

Results:

Quarter-finals:

Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 5-1 (56-53, 69-18, 61-25, 5-76, 59-0, 58-15); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-4 (7-73, 59-22, 55-36, 73-0, 3-69, 26-78, 61-41, 54-74, 70-38); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 5-2 (77-10, 35-68, 45-63, 106-9, 63-1, 70-62, 60-21); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Haris Tahir (Punjab) 5-4 (3-72, 5-108, 95-35, 67-39, 56-67, 71-51, 25-56, 68-58, 67-14).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Semi-finals: (Best of 11 frames):

At 10am: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

At 12.30pm: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Babar Masih (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018