KARACHI: Punjab’s Hammad Hassan Shaikh became the first player to register two century breaks in a match when he carved out a 4-1 victory over his fellow qualifier Aamir Sohail from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the third day of the league matches of the NBP 46th National Snooker Championship at the bank’s sports complex on Sunday.

Hammad scored breaks of 138 and 116 in the second and fifth frames while chalking up a 94-4, 138-4, 78-8, 48-57, 116-0 victory over Aamir, who is recovering from dengue.

Sixth seed Mubashir Raza suffered his second successive defeat in Group ‘F’ when he went down 2-4 to unseeded province-mate Umair Haider. The latter won the battle with a scoreline of 2-71, 77-15, 91-27, 19-68, 68-40, 42-5.

Mubashir now has one victory and two defeats with another two league matches to go.

Eighth seed Babar Masih, who recently won a silver in the World 6 Reds Snooker Championship at Doha, was on song as he stretched his unbeaten run.

He blanked Yaqoob Khan in straight frames 4-0 (92-23, 62-29, 82-34, 71-58) and then outpaced Tanzeel Hussain 4-1 (54-62, 97-19, 92-0, 70-9, 120-1) taking his tally to three victories in as many days in Group ‘H’.

Results:

Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Yaqoob Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (92-23, 62-29, 82-34, 71-58); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-2 (74-9, 21-69, 94-0, 66-23, 25-62, 97-0); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Tanzeel Hussain (Balochistan) 4-1 (65-0, 55-35, 66-14, 20-60, 65-23); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Ibrahim Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (59-42, 61-29, 65-60, 25-74, 53-9); Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (66-42, 64-9, 87-0, 85-25); Sattar Khan (Islamabad) bt Waseem Abbas (Punjab) 4-3 (62-63, 70-41, 31-75, 62-33, 64-26, 18-68, 66-46); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Tanzeel Hussain (Balochistan) 4-1 (54-62, 97-19, 92-0, 70-9, 120-1); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-1 (84-36, 66-34, 92-4, 57-66, 62-31); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Yaqoob Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (81-10, 64-19, 25-81, 76-30, 33-77, 64-69, 69-28); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) bt Sattar Khan (Islamabad) 4-2 (47-66, 68-21, 74-27, 58-27, 37-46, 76-10); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (67-40, 73-38, 66-36, 76-22); Waseem Abbas (Punjab) bt Ibrahim Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (67-22, 46-86, 42-50, 64-22, 65-15, 67-28); Umair Haider (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-2 (2-71, 77-15, 91-27, 19-68, 68-40, 42-5); Saad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Taufiq Johri (Sindh) 4-3 (64-25, 21-64, 50-40, 82-52, 47-52, 22-77, 71-4); Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (73-43, 56-55, 45-68, 50-67, 63-40, 55-29); Mohammad Ahsan Javed (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran Qamar (Punjab) 4-2 (64-33, 84-16, 5-79, 60-85, 70-38, 70-53); Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Hiskail Bilal (Balochistan) 4-0 (67-1, 67-57, 76-40, 58-39); Umer Naeem (Sindh) bt Sheikh Mohammad Muzammil (Punjab) 4-1 (31-64, 58-11, 72-11, 70-19, 74-43); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (49-51, 74-28, 59-26, 73-12, 77-12); Abdul Javed (Islamabad) bt Ahmad Shah (Balochistan) 4-1 (79-46, 36-61, 67-33, 75-34, 75-3); Nadeem Gul (Punjab) bt Ali Hamza (Sindh) 4-0 (94-40, 63-27, 60-50, 62-44); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-0 (62-23, 68-0, 80-68, 64-39); Hammad Hassan Shaikh (Punjab) bt Aamir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (94-4, 138-4, 78-8, 48-57, 116-0); Waqar Ahmed (Islamabad) bt Aftab Baig (Balochistan) 4-0 (66-43, 63-19, 60-16, 72-44).

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2021