KARACHI:The trio of former Pakistan No. 1 Babar Masih, ex-NBP Cup champion Mohammad Ijaz and local cueist Abdul Sattar ensured a berth in the last eight as upsets continued in the Jubilee Insurance third national ranking snooker championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Monday.

Babar, whose ranking has slipped to 15th, together with Ijaz made it to the quarter-finals from Group ‘B’ but the No. 1 and No. 2 slots will become clear on Tuesday after the Ijaz-Zulfiqar clash.

Babar had completed his league engagements defeating Abu Saim, Zulfiqar, Sultan and Haris besides losing to Ijaz whereas Ijaz conjured up victories against Sultan Mohammad, Babar and Saim and lost to Haris.

By virtue of winning four out of five matches, Sattar cruised to the quarters from Group ‘C’ where he will be joined by either Asjad or Naseem Sattar returned victorious against Shahbaz, Agha Bilawal, Naseem and Majid and suffered a loss to Asjad.

Three players — top seed Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Ahsan Javaid and Mohammad Sajjad — are in contention for the two slots from Group ‘A’,

Similarly, two cueists from Bilal, Mubashir and Sohail Shahzad will make it to the last eight from Group ‘D’.

Meanwhile, teenager Ahsan Ramzan created quite a stir after routing the reigning national champion and fourth seed Mohammad Bilal 4-1.

Ahsan, 14, who has made his debut at the national U-18 and U-21 championships earlier this year, won the duel 15-65, 64-52, 55-21, 58-13, 80-0.

In another upset, senior player Sohail Shahzad shocked fifth seed Mubashir Raza 4-3 while Haris Tahir blanked second seed Zulfiqar Qadir straight.

Former junior world champion Naseem Akhtar hammered a break of 134 by getting the better of Agha Bilawal 4-1.

Three other players notched up century breaks with 130 by Babar against Saim, Asif’s 105 against Sajjad and Sohail’s 101 against Mubashir.

Results:

Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) 4-1 (15-65, 64-52, 55-21, 58-13, 80-0); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-3 (11-68, 61-14, 77-29, 115-0, 40-57, 31-73, 57-28); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Rashid Aziz (Punjab) 4-0 (57-36, 66-58, 61-9, 59-1); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-0 (82-12, 80-15, 72-36, 86-1); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-2 (15-102, 89-2, 68-61, 114-4, 26-63, 68-9); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-1 (12-67, 134-0, 71-61, 68-45, 53-40); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) 4-1 (75-47, 63-31, 61-37, 15-89, 60-40); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-0 (82-0, 76-6, 79-16, 58-22); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-2 (94-27, 69-9, 102-12, 23-105, 27-60, 68-6); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) 4-1 (64-55, 62-69, 65-15, 70-31, 72-60); Ali Haider (Punjab) bt Imran Shahzad (Punjab) 4-2 (75-25, 8-67, 69-7, 62-61, 43-61, 79-55); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-1 (63-18, 130-8, 85-24, 45-72, 96-20); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 4-0 (67-30, 69-34, 58-15, 60-8).

Sunday’s remaining results:

Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) bt Imran Shahzad (Punjab) 4-3 (58-55, 58-15, 66-32, 17-70, 65-66, 62-73, 70-46); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-2 (88-21, 84-49, 24-72, 58-66, 91-14, 133-8); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 4-1 (17-73, 55-47, 79-1, 68-8, 55-1); Mohammad Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) bt Rashid Aziz (Punjab) 4-3 (53-58, 50-49, 67-15, 37-62, 37-69, 58-36, 56-38).

Tuesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) vs Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) vs Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) vs Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Mubashir Raza (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2019