KARACHI: Third-seed Awaisullah Munir stunned former world champion Mohammad Asif in the ongoing National Snooker Championship here on Friday, eliminating the latter from the tournament.

Current national champion Sultan Mohammad also met the same fate at the hands of Mohammad Ejaz putting a dramatic end to the league round. The knockout round starts on Saturday with the prominent likes of Asjad IqBalochistan, Ahsan Ramzan, Mohammad Sajjad and Babar Masih along with Awaisullah and Ejaz to feature in the pre-quarter-finals.

Punjab’s Awaisullah subjected National Bank of Pakistan’s Asif of National Bank 4-0, the frame scores reading 57-38, 58-0, 68-39 and 71-0.

On the other hand, Ejaz, also of Punjab, secured a 4-0 victory over Sultan Sultan Muhammad 4-0 (69-08, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0).

Results: Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Sultan Muhammad 4-0 (69-08, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0); Shan Namat (Islamabad) bt Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (16-61, 67-59, 61-37, 85-8, 47-68, 31-66 (65), 86-0 (85); Awais Ullah Munair (Punjab) bt Muhammad Asif (NBP) 4-0 (57-38, 58-0, 68-39 (63), 71-0 (68), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (78-25 (58), 68-16, 7-60, 80-40 (68), 58-44); Adil Khan (Balochistan) bt Zaib Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (82-0, 77-19 (62), 45-0, 83-11 (73), 73-29); Muhammad Sajjad (NBP) Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-2 (61-27, 32-64, 25-82, 69-13, 73-21 (73), 62-54); Aakash Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Javed (Islamabad) 4-3 (64-72, 86-62, 78-0 (59), 89-09 (67), 16-95 (94), 7-88 (66), 74-38); Ali Hamza (Sindh) bt Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (35-58, 57-34, 93-09 (86), 13-64, 102-04 (82), 68-59).

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2024