KARACHI: Seven players, including four unseeded ones, stepped into the last-16 round of the NBP 46th National Snooker Championship at the bank’s sports complex on Wednesday.

Those who have reached the knockout round are top seed and defending champion Mohammad Asif, third seed Shahid Aftab, eighth seed Babar Masih, national U-17 champion Ahsan Ramzan, national U-21 champion Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir, Mohammad Ijaz and Asian men’s bronze medallist Haris Tahir.

Nine more cueists will join the above seven on completion of league stage on Thursday.

Two century breaks – one each by Nadeem Gul (109) and Haris Tahir (110) – were the main features on penultimate day of league stage.

Nadeem’s break came in the fourth frame as he outplayed Abdul Javed 4-2 (72-58, 13-77, 62-25, 109-9, 13-60, 60-44). Similarly, Haris chalked up his break in the fourth frame as he was home straight 93-12, 124-0, 69-5, 110-6.

Results: Sheikh M. Mudassir (Punjab) bt Ali Hamza (Sindh) 4-1 (58-84, 72-0, 84-6, 61-50, 89-1); Nadeem Gul (Punjab) bt Abdul Javed (Islamabad) 4-2 (72-58, 13-77, 62-25, 109-9, 13-60, 60-44); Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Waqar Ahmed (Islamabad) 4-0 (89-63, 75-51, 81-34, 78-0); Hammad Hassan Shaikh (Punjab) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-3 (20-54, 75-25, 48-61, 64-70, 94-1, 67-66, 62-53); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Zubair Tahir (Punjab) 4-0 (67-7, 64-41, 59-27, 67-1); Adil Khan (Balochistan) bt Saifullah (Punjab) 4-1 (101-5, 41-67, 73-41, 90-20, 70-25); Mohammad Shahzad (Punjab) bt Abdul Qadir Ashir (Balochistan) 4-1 (82-1, 66-18, 41-71, 71-49, 60-51); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-2 (39-59, 78-19, 60-53, 56-46, 40-56, 92-17); Owaisullah (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (91-4, 1-60, 69-36, 67-68, 73-36, 76-64); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-0 (93-12, 124-0, 69-5, 110-6); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Yaqoob Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (67-28, 82-10, 62-31, 64-12); Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Waseem Abbas (Punjab) 4-1 (71-8, 72-43, 32-69, 72-49, 55-51); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Ibrahim Khan (Balochistan) 4-3 (20-78, 20-71, 61-23, 77-35, 42-79, 63-7, 66-43); Sattar Khan (Islamabad) bt Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (10-71, 76-33, 54-36, 68-28, 76-50); Saad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (80-17, 61-18, 43-11, 38-52, 75-34); Umair Haider (Punjab) bt Mohammad Taufiq Johri (Sindh) 4-0 (66-37, 63-15, 56-26, 48-12); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Sheikh Mohammad Muzammil (Punjab) 4-0 (92-16, 67-45, 72-12, 70-11); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) 4-2 (83-1, 8-81, 16-75, 79-21, 90-17, 98-0).

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2021