KARACHI: Unseeded Mohammad Saleem reached the first quarter-final of a ranking event in his career when he inflicted a 5-2 defeat on Bahadur Khan in the 12th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship at the bank’s sports complex here on Saturday.

Saleem won the battle 72-7, 16-104, 75-42, 8-65, 58-22, 88-10, 75-8.

Defending champion and top seed Mohammad Asif remained the only survivor as five more seeded cueists fell like ninepins.

Third seed Asjad Iqbal and eighth seed Ali Haider bowed out the other day.

Asif, who is the incumbent world champion, blanked Zulfiqar Qadir straight the scores being 64-55, 78-0, 72-51, 65-15, 64-36.

Another KP player Sharjeel Mehmood also shone with two blistering century breaks of 113 and 109 while routing Mohammad Ijaz 5-1.

Results:

Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 5-4 (81-15, 19-72, 4-68, 60-62, 61-34, 10-78, 7-107, 64-40, 62-4) Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 5-3 (68-51, ,59-20, 25-66, 0-70, 72-8, 63-32, 41-67, 112-0, Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Babar Masih (Punjab) 5-3 (34-48, 44-59, 64-4, 43-54, 60-55, 55-42, 96-26, 57-37), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 5-2 (75-48, 61-38, 77-35, 15-81, 7-69, 76-65, 62-1) Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 5-4 (36-75, 120-9, 27-96, 68-17, 1-62, 66-4, 5-49, 87-13, 64-2), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 5-1 (101-27, 113-24, 8-113, 73-63, 109-8, 57-29), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 5-0 (64-55, 78-0, 72-51, 65-15, 64-36), Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 5-2 (72-7, 16-104, 75-42, 8-65, 58-22, 88-10, 75-8).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Quarter-finals (best of nine frames):

At 10am: Mohammad Bilal vs Mohammad Saleem, Haris Tahir vs Ahsan Ramzan, Mohammad Asif Toba vs Mohammad Sajjad, Sharjeel Mehmood vs Mohammad Asif.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2020