KARACHI: Two seeded players fell prey on the opening day of the 12th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship which cued off at the bank’s sports complex on Tuesday.

Unseeded Haris Tahir, a former Asian under-21 runner-u,p pulled off the first upset when he sent eighth seed Ali Haider packing 4-2 in the opening session. He was home 2-79, 64-41, 69-17, 53-65, 80-0, 44-35.

In the day’s other upset, unseeded Mohammad Ajmal was stretched to limits before getting the better of third seed Asjad Iqbal, a four-time title holder, 4-3.

Ajmal, who made his debut in the 45th National Snooker Championship in February this year, recovered from being 1-3 down to post a 68-67, 46-57, 12-60, 38-73, 75-46, 68-11, 71-38 victory.

Meanwhile, other seeded cueists made winning starts. Top seed and defending champion Mohammad Asif won 4-1 over Umar Farooq (102-0, 96-25, 1-67, 125-0, 90-6).

Second seed Shahid Aftab blanked Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir 4-0 (56-25, 65-15, 56-49, 65-59).

However, no other cueist was able to record a century break on the first day.

Results:

Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-2 (2-79, 64-41, 69-17, 53-65, 80-0, 44-35); Mohammad Ajmal (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-3 (68-67, 46-57, 12-60, 38-73, 75-46, 68-11, 71-38); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Umer Khan (Punjab) 4-0 (65-35, 79-39, 77-9, 70-18); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Hamza Akbar (Punjab) 4-3 (45-56, 57-58, 81-27, 69-26, 60-29, 12-63, 58-2); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-1 (77-45, 65-42, 49-67, 62-22, 88-51); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-1 (102-0, 96-25, 1-67, 125-0, 90-6); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) 4-0 (56-25, 65-15, 56-49, 65-59); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ali (Sindh) 4-0 (84-36, 69-30, 75-23, 63-27); Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-0 (78-41, 67-17, 66-46, 68-26); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Ali Hamza (Sindh) 4-0 (68-3, 63-5, 57-12, 65-14); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt M. Javed Ansari (Sindh) 4-1 (1-0, 60-56, 64-14, 20-62, 83-0); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-0 (84-0, 67-38, 101-0, 71-14); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Zubair Tahir (Punjab) 4-0 (80-0, 80-7, 58-19, 86-1).

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2020