KARACHI: Former junior world champion Mohammad Naseem Akhtar took a sweet revenge of his previous defeat when he humbled national U-18 champion Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir 4-1 as Babar Masih hammered a blistering break of 136 on the opening day of 11th National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship at bank’s sports complex on Sunday.

Naseem, who has been lacking form, had lost to Mudassir in the final of National U-18 championship held at Islamabad in January. However, he displayed better acumen to post an exciting 72-49, 76-50, 13-95, 71-0, 96-22 victory over his opponent in Group ‘F’.

On a day when a few cueists were extended to full length, Babar hogged limelight by compiling 136 in third frame against Punjab’s M. Imran Qamar while registering 4-1 triumph with the scored being 32-61, 77-46, 136-0, 103-18, 68-52.

National champion and top seed Mohammad Bilal faced no difficulty while getting the better of Balochistan’s Abdul Rraziq 4-1 (58-26, 63-19, 79-7, 44-52, 79-18).

Defending champion Mohammad Ijaz demolished Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sharjeel Mehmood straight (68-22, 77-33, 77-28, 72-27).

Results: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) 4-1 (58-26, 63-19, 79-7, 44-52, 79-18); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 4-1 (70-43, 78-7, 0-106, 61-7, 77-0); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) 4-3 (58-21, 3-89, 34-68, 76-33, 77-8, 16-69, 97-56); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (7-79, 75-40, 65-52, 65-27, 11-68, 26-56, 52-29); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt M. Imran Qamar (Punjab) 4-1 (32-61, 77-46, 136-0, 103-18, 68-52); Rashid Aziz (Punjab) bt Haris Tahir (Punjab) 4-3 (25-61, 61-36, 62-28, 18-71, 10-89, 54-49, 73-15); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (68-22, 77-33, 77-28, 72-27); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) 4-1 (72-49, 76-50, 13-95, 71-0, 96-22); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 4-3 (37-62, 6-82, 64-28, 46-59, 102-1, 79-44, 72-0); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-0 (57-46, 73-0, 71-15, 66-44); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-3 (24-74, 63-51, 47-64, 73-35, 69-48, 63-64, 63-10); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) 4-1 (78-6, 79-0, 32-63, 71-32, 79-39); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt bt Imran Shahzad (Punjab) 4-1 (73-30, 22-65, 61-18, 65-8, 57-19).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Ali Haider (Punjab) vs Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) vs Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab), Agha Bilawal (Sindh) vs Amir Tariq (Punjab), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) vs Hamza Ilyas (Punjab).

At 12noon: Babar Masih (Punjab) vs Rashid Aziz (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab) vs M. Imran Qamar (Punjab), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) vs Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punja) vs Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 2pm: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) vs Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) vs Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh), Agha Bilawal (Sindh) vs Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Amir Tariq (Punjab) vs Hamza Ilyas (Punjab).At 4pm: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) vs Abdul Raziq (Balochistan), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) vs Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Imran Shahzad (Punjab) vs Mohammad Mudassir (Islamabad).

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2019