KARACHI: Seven cueists out of 56 maintained their unbeaten run winning all three league fixtures in the 44th National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

The seven players who consolidated positions in their respective groups were top seed Babar Masih, third seed Zulfiqar A. Qadir, fourth seed Mohammad Majid Ali, fifth seed Mohammad Bilal, seventh seed Shahid Aftab, unseeded Sohail Shehzad and unseeded Mubashir Raza.

According to draws, every player will play six league matches and on completion, top two from each group will propel into the last-16.

The day saw two more century breaks, both in the morning session, that took the three day total to nine. Former national champion Shahid Aftab chalked up a break of 103 in the third frame routing Ameer Hamza Khan of Islamabad straight 63-35, 59-11, 108-0, 78-56.

Sindh champion Abdul Sattar hammered an elegant break of 122 in the opening frame disposing off Amir Sohail of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 122-0, 75-5, 55-33, 53-21.

Results:

Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (82-10, 76-28, 3-77, 26-78, 78-33, 82-51); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Abdul Hameed (Balochistan) 4-1 (70-27, 77-32, 9-88, 102-9, 60-37); Amir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-1 (65-13, 59-42, 61-44, 20-73, 87-16); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Ameer Hamza Khan (Islamabad) 4-0 (63-35, 59-11, 108-0, 78-56); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (122-0, 75-5, 55-33, 53-21); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt S. Habib Shah (Balochistan) 4-0 (60-40, 58-23, 66-8, 79-10); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Saeed Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (45-78, 60-56, 53-75, 67-63, 70-18, 56-40); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Shafiullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (58-69, 67-38, 82-40, 32-62, 79-39, 49-69, 84-0); M. Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Abdul Majid (Sindh) 4-3 (93-0, 84-37, 29-61, 72-31, 6-102, 52-66, 64-1); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mirza Waqas Baig (Punjab) 4-1 (107-0, 70-14, 6-72, 63-23, 67-57); Rashid Aziz (Punjab) bt Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) 4-2 (63-26, 29-83, 60-19, 65-11, 22-91, 70-8); Farukh Usman (Sindh) bt Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (61-22, 76-16, 60-5, 69-40); M. Imran Qamar (Punjab) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (77-26, 54-31, 56-26, 73-24); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (54-35, 92-8, 60-58, 52-26); Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) bt Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (61-52, 49-59, 56-24, 49-38, 50-19); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Ahmed Shah (Balochistan) 4-0 (70-30, 84-35, 88-6, 75-28); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) 4-0 (72-25, 83-21, 88-32, 87-9); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (63-30, 71-47, 55-14, 73-40); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Abdul Jalil (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (82-49, 75-63, 53-65, 56-40, 62-2); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-2 (40-57, 54-61, 70-58, 60-52, 62-43, 66-45).

Saturday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) vs Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), M. Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) vs Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ahmed Shah (Balochistan) vs Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab) vs Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Mudassir (Islamabad) vs Rabish Pervez (Balochistan), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) vs Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

At 12noon: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) vs Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan), Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) vs Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), M. Imran Qamar (Punjab) vs Ali Raza (Sindh), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) vs Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad), Shaikh M. Mudssir (Punjab) vs Amir Tariq (Punjab), Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Imran Shehzad (Punjab).

At 2pm Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Abdul Majid (Sindh), Haris Tahir (Punjab) vs Shafiullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), M. Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) vs Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ali Haider (Punjab) vs Abdul Raziq (Balochistan), Farukh Usman (Sindh) vs Rashid Aziz (Punjab).

At 4pm: Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Abu Saim (Punjab), Amir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Abdul Hameed (Balochistan), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) vs Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) vs Abdul Sattar (Sindh), S. Habib Shah (Balochistan) vs Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2019