KARACHI: Debutant and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa qualifier Saad Khan stunned defending champion and second seed Mohammad Bilal 4-1 as five cueists completed the last-16 line-up in the 45th National Snooker Championship here at Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

Though Saad’s 34-101, 59-6, 68-17, 70-51, 71-45 triumph had no bearing and couldn’t stop Bilal from entering last-16, it still raised the morale of this year’s national U-21 semi-finalist.

The five players who cruised into knockout round are Ali Haider, Mohammad Ahsan Jawaid, Rambel Gul, Mohammad Saleem and Sohail Shahzad.

As many as 11 seeded players – top 10 and 13th seed – have justified by storming into knockouts while five bowed out making room for unseeded ones.

Mohammad Saleem and Zulfiqar Qadir entered their names in the century break makers piling breaks of 108 and 105 respectively.

The pre quarter-finals will be played on Sunday in two separate sessions.

Results:

Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-1 (75-4, 70-11, 0-105; 49-0, 64-28); Khizar Aziz (Sindh) bt Ibrahim Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (78-6, 68-17, 68-22, 57-46); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab/NBP) bt Ahmed Shah (Balochistan) 4-0 (walkover); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab/NBP) 4-2 (7-104, 41-67, 62-23, 45-20, 67-1, 60-19); Rana Irfan (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-3 (16-63, 64-25, 50-21, 34-86, 27-65, 58-16, 55-23); Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Ghafoor (Balochistan) 4-1 (79-10, 54-63, 62-20, 78-27, 65-44); SohailShahzad (Sindh) bt Haris Tahir (Punjab/NBP) 4-0 (57-46, 63-25, 83-0, 96-26); Ali Hamza (Sindh) bt Zubair Tahir (Punjab) 4-1 (60-67, 73-5, 63-16, 65-13, 68-56); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 4-1

(45-76, 80-8, 57-45, 69-6, 50-40); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-1 (101-20, 70-33, 78-43, 27-76, 63-7); Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Ajmal (Punjab) 4-3 (134-0, 3-72, 74-17, 11-83, 56-15, 11-52, 45-25); Usman Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-0 (walkover); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab/NBP) bt Mohammad Umar Khan (Punjab) 4-1 (76-1, 77-27, 94-13, 29-66, 115-0); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Shan Naimat (Islamabad) 4-3 (16-77, 83-18, 24-76, 55-8, 72-23, 33-72, 54-15); Ali Haider (Punjab/SBP) bt Mohammad Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 4-0 (1-0, 83-11, 63-15, 64-26); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab/NBP) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-1 (52-41, 18-68, 60-20, 75-36, 47-10); Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (44-78, 68-24, 0-84, 74-42, 81-29, 79-7); S. Meesam Zaidi (Sindh) bt A. Sattar Khan (Islamabad) 4-1 (60-43, 62-49, 77-38, 21-88, 68-18); Mohammad Asif (Punjab/NBP) bt Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab/SBP) 4-1 (53-16, 97-26, 75-18, 32-68, 76-0); M. Jawed Ansari (Sindh) bt Saqib Bashir (Balochistan) 4-0 (89-8, 57-14, 56-27, 49-16); Saad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab/SBP) 4-1 (34-101, 59-6, 68-17, 70-51, 71-45); Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad) bt Rabish Pervez (Balochistan) 4-1 (59-24, 59-37, 31-60, 47-45, 64-42); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (53-20, 76-2, 72-5, 0-110, 64-68, 74-28).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Pre quarter-finals:

At 10am: Mohammad Ijaz vs Ali Haider; Mohammad Ahsan Javaid vs Mohammad Sajjad; Mubashir Raza vs Rambel Gul; Shahid Aftab vs Zulfiqar A. Qadir.

At 1pm: Babar Masih vs Mohammad Saleem; Mohammad Asif vs Mohammad Bilal; Hamza Akbar vs Mohammad Naseem Akhtar; Asjad Iqbal vs Sohail Shahzad.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2020