KARACHI, Jan 24: Punjab youngster Farhan Noor was the first to qualify for the Snooker Nationals, when he breezed past Noman Shah (NWFP) 3-0, to register his third successive victory in the Red & White pre-qualifiers at the Indus Snooker Club Thursday.

Farhan perched on top in Pool A the previous evening, after he beat Aamir Sikander 3-2 and then stunned the Sindh Cup champion Mohammad Akhlas by an identical margin.

The place for the second spot in the Pool should now witness a keen tussle between Mohammad Akhlas and another young promising cueist Aamir Sikander.

With his Sindh Cup form deserting him, Akhlas struggled hard to beat off the challenge of Balochistan’s Amanullah 3-2, although he did chalk up a 46 break in the second frame. On the other hand Aamir Sikander determined to reach the National championship, did a little better while downing Noman Shah 3-1.

Aneel Bherwani scored his second 3-0 success, when he surprised the NWFP’s Inam-ur-Rehman, only to receive a mild setback in the evening session going down 2-3 to Balochistan’s Naeem Khan.

Punjab’s Abu Saim and Sindh’s Irfan Rasheed Khan are also poised to reach the main round winning both their respective matches with ease.

The same could be said about Vishan Gir a 3-0 winner over Balochistan’s Ishtiaq Hussain, Ahmed Bawany, a 3-0 winner against Mohammad Ali Changezi, Mohammad Aslam, also a 3-0 winner against Syed Qasim Shah from Balochistan, and the former Sindh Cup champion Shahdab Baig, who got the better of Kashif Zubair 3-1.

The chances of bespectacled Farhan Idress reaching the Nationals took a nose dive, when he was dispatched off by Kamran Shah 0-3, who fired in a quick break of 56 in the second round.

Danish Haroon lost his second match in a row, this time to Mustafa Haider from Balochistan, who had to break into a sweat to overcome the Sindh youngster 3-2. Mustafa with two straight wins seems on course to make it to the final round.

Second day’s results:

Kashif Khan bt Wajid Khan 3-0; Aneel Bherwani bt Inam-ur-Rehman 3-0; Salman Sheikh bt Turyaali 3-1; Abu Saim bt Raees Khan 3-1; Bilal Siddiqui bt Shah Khan 3-2; Rambel Gul bt Sunny Shahani 3-2. Shakir Rafiq bt Mohammad Yousuf 3-0; Atif Mughal bt Rauf Shaikh 3-1; Ahmed Bawany bt Mohammad Ali Changezi 3-0; Yasir Aziz bt Mohammad Shahid Ali 3-1; Raja Amir Suhail bt Nadir Khan 3-1; Mohammad Amin bt Mohammad Hussain Changezi 3-0; Masood Ahmed bt Sultan Ali Changezi 3-0; Khurram Khan bt Baber Qayyum 3-2; Noman Awan bt Azeem Akhtar 3-2; Mohammad Aslam bt Syed Qasim Shah 3-0; Wajid Khan bt Mohammad Moin 3-2; Naeem Khan bt Aneel Bherwai 3-2. Turyali w/o Asim Ghani. Raees Khan bt Shahzad Amjad; Humayan Khursheed bt Bilal Siddiqui 3-2; Sunny Shahani bt Mohammad Hussain 3-2; Shahid M. Minhas bt Mohammad Yousuf 3-0; Rauf Shaikh bt Asghar Khan 3-2; Aamir Sikander bt Noman Shah 3-1; Irfan R. Khan bt Zahid Mehmood 3-0; Vishan Gir bt Ishtiaq Hussain 3-0. Farhan Nasar bt Yousuf Haroon 3-2; Hassan Shuja bt Atif Ayub 3-2; Aamir Samdani bt Shoaib Qadir 3-2; Tahir Rasheed bt Abdul Rehman 3-0; Shadab Baig bt Kashif Zubair 3-1; Mohammad Akhlas bt Amanullah 3-2; Fahad Asif bt M. Alam 3-0; Raja Rasheed bt Asad Azim 3-1; Mustafa Hyder bt Danish Haroon 3-2; Ahmer Sheikh bt Mehmood Khan 3-2; A. Qadeer Butt bt Qaisar Khan 3-0; Mohammad Nazir bt Arshad Siddiq 3-1; Kamran Shah bt Farhan Idrees 3-0; Farhan Noor bt Noman Shah 3-0.