KARACHI: Current Under-21 national champion Mohammad Hasnain of Sindh stamped his mark in the NBP 48th National Snooker Championship as he defeated former world amateur champion Ahsan Ramzan 4-2 in their round-robin match here at the NBP Sports Complex Snooker Arena on Wednesday.

Ahsan, representing Punjab, comfortably won the first frame 95-33 before Hasnain launched a counterattack winning three consecutive frames 95-16, 72-25, 59-03.

Ahsan, the current Asian junior champion, claw­ed a frame back with a break of 73 before Hasnain wrapped the victory in the sixth frame 74-06.

In Wednesday’s earlier matches, Hasnain was beaten comprehensively 4-0 [70-23, 69-27, 66-70, 83-08] by Balochistan’s Adil Khan while Ahsan cruised past Sindh’s Fazal Umar 4-1 [39-58, 65-31, 87-16(82), 117-04(52), 103-18].

Meanwhile, defending champion Sultan Mohammad of Sindh — who forfeited his match on Tuesday due to illness — registered a 4-3 [53-61, 56-31, 01-100(84), 61-18, 48-68, 70-23, 66-27] victory over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Fawad Khan.

In the day’s other fixtures, Punjab’s Mohammad Naseem Akhtar recorded the only century break of the day in his 4-1 [62-69, 69-33, 77-17(52), 108-01(108), 65-55(65)] triumph over Zafar Iqbal of Islamabad.

Zafar made amend for his loss with a 4-2 [(64-25, 76-01, 102-12, 18-75, 7-50, 77-04)] win over Balochistan’s Basit Ali.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa players Shan Namat and Sirbuland Khan along with Punjab’s Shahid Aftab also recorded comfortable 4-0 vicories over their respective opponents.

Sindh’s Abdul Sattar got a walkover win over Punjab’s Awaisullah Munair.

Results: Shan Namat (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Muhammad Sahil (Sindh) 74-03, 70-22, 62-21, 73-38(56); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) 64-09, 77-06, 66-40, 62-30; Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Jahanzaib (Balochistan) 76-38, 71-34, 85-36, 66-18; Aakash Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir 84-39(66), 66-63, 62-74, 11-68, 34-70, 80-49); Abdul Rehman (Punjab bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 55-43, 63-04, 46-55, 1-71, 55-35, 68-28; Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Rambail Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 34-63, 53-33, 60-70, 75-12, 32-84(77), 60-25, 93-04(59); Saif Ali Khan (Sindh) bt Zulfiqar A, Qadir (Sindh) 64-40, 14-96(87), 59-48, 47-58, 60-34, 74-35); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 22-94(76), 77-0(77), 81-0(55), 25-74, 26-62, 65-39, 68-0(58)); Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 01-71, 95-21, 69-13, 47-59, 64-08, 58-69, 64-08).

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024