KARACHI: Talented Haris Tahir has joined the three seniors — Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad and Mohammad Bilal — in the semi-finals of the 12th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship at the bank’s sports complex on Sunday.

Haris, the reigning national U-21 champion, was stretched to limits by another junior national U-16 and U-18 champion Mohammad Ramzan before winning the battle.

Haris won the encounter 58-9, 8-84, 69-33, 28-69, 63-8, 7-57, 54-14, 30-86, 71-0.

Haris is drawn to meet former top player Mohammad Bilal who routed Mohammad Saleem 5-2 in another match. The scores were 78-40, 8-62, 81-25, 8-52, 72-45, 62-2, 58-14.

Holder Mohammad Asif and former national champion Mohammad Sajjad qualified to meet each other in Monday’s semi-final after their triumphs.

Sajjad mustered a break of 117 in the opening frame while imposing 5-3 victory over Mohammad Asif Toba (117-6, 123-0, 48-78, 60-29, 67-27, 0-62, 21-69, 84-32).

Asif, who has won last three ranking competitions on trot, sent Sharjeel Mehmood packing 5-1 (104-1, 139-0, 84-26, 63-29, 30-66, 77-0.

Results:

Quarter-finals: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-2 (78-40, 8-62, 81-25, 8-52, 72-45, 62-2, 58-14); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) 5-4 (58-9, 8-84, 69-33, 28-69, 63-8, 7-57, 54-14, 30-86, 71-0), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 5-3 (117-6, 123-0, 48-78, 60-29, 67-27, 0-62, 21-69, 84-32), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 5-1 (104-1, 139-0, 84-26, 63-29, 30-66, 77-0.

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Semi-finals: Mohammad Bilal v Haris Tahir, Mohammad Sajjad v Mohammad Asif.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2020