KARACHI: Second seed Zulfiqar A. Qadir suffered second successive loss that has dampened his chances of making it to the knockout stage from Group ‘B’ in the Jubilee Insurance third national ranking snooker championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday

Having lost 1-4 to Abu Saim on Saturday, he went down 2-4 to Babar Masih that puts him in danger of losing out in the first round. Babar won the battle 32-68, 66-51, 75-9, 135-0, 30-71, 71-10 that envisaged a century break of 113 in the fourth frame.

In the same group, former national U-18 champion Haris Tahir stormed a comeback from 1-3 down to whip Mohammad Ijaz in fully stretched encounter the scores beingb10-75, 31-59, 88-57, 8-86, 62-2, 53-37, 61-39.

Top seed Mohammad Asif notched up a century break of 100 in the sixth frame while surviving a scare against Ali Haider in registering a 4-3 triumph. The former world champion was home 30-65, 27-60, 80-9, 63-68, 63-0, 100-0, 92-5.

Meanwhile, Mubashir Raza, Mohammad Bilal and Asjad Iqbal stretched their unbeaten run in the event.

Results:

Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-2 (32-68, 66-51, 75-9, 135-0, 30-71, 71-10); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-3 (10-75, 31-59, 88-57, 8-86, 62-2, 53-37, 61-39); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-3 (7-77, 46-32, 1-65, 74-4, 68-19, 65-67, 66-44); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-2 (0-76, 56-1, 63-52, 58-57, 36-76, 62-31); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Rashid Aziz (Punjab) 4-2 (82-13, 63-18, 57-62, 56-14, 1-97, 75-49); Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Mohammad Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) 4-2 (71-35, 68-41, 23-68, 43-72, 75-27, 70-58); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) 4-1 (60-2, 92-9, 50-61, 78-9, 65-32); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-1 (86-14, 41-22, 42-78, 53-23, 57-26); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (50-80, 82-1, 61-11, 57-20, 34-74, 75-5); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-3 (30-65, 27-60, 80-9, 63-68, 63-0, 100-0, 92-5); Mohammad Bilal (Sindh) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-3

(54-8, 45-51, 69-21, 64-70, 63-67, 61-23, 73-34); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Haris Tahir (Punjab) 4-2 (67-35, 54-38, 27-85, 29-67, 64-34, 120-1).

Monday’s fitures:

At 10am: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab) vs Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Rashid Aziz (Punjab) vs Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) vs Haris Tahir (Punjab).

At 12noon: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) vs Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) vs Agha Bilawal (sindh), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) vs Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) vs Sultan Mohammad (Sindh).

At 2pm: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) vs Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) vs Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab), Ali Haider (Punjab) vs Imran Shahzad (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab) vs Abu saim (Punjab).

At 4pm: Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) vs Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Mohammad Hamza Ilyas (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2019