KARACHI: Cueists Asjad Iqbal, Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, Ahsan Ramzan, Owaisullah Munir, Shan Namat, Abdul Javed and Sohail Shahzad won their respective round-of-16 matches to confirm a berth in the NBP 48th National Snooker Championship quarter-finals here at the NBP Sports Complex Snooker Arena on Saturday.

Former national champions Mohammad Sajjad of NBP and Punjab’s Babar Masih failed to stamp their mark as they were ousted by Shan and Awaisullah, respectively.

In the contrasting fixtures, Islamabad’s Shan crushed Sajjad 5-0 [73-66, 76-09, 57-36, 59-08, 58-21] while Babar, despite registering a century-break of 142 in the penultimate frame, went down 5-4 [67-28, 0-85, 29-78, 60-62, 81-0, 77-0(77), 96-0(96), 0-142(142), 64-56] against Awaisullah of Punjab.

Islamabad’s Javed upset fifth seed Adil Khan of Balochistan 5-4 [63-33, 46-65(59), 87-37, 0-70(54), 20-63, 63-25, 70-73, 48-52, 61-38] after a gruelling four-hour match to set up a meeting with Awais in the quarters.

Sindh also has representation in the last-eight clashes as Shehzad recorded two century-breaks (108 and 100) in his 5-4 [117-01(108), 58-70, 111-14(105), 0-132(100), 47-57, 16-67(66), 102-17, 68-61, 67-34] triumph over Haris Tahir of Punjab.

Shehzad will vie for a semi-final spot against Shan.

Current Asian champion Ahsan of Punjab edged province-mate Mohammad Ijaz 5-4 [58-36, 06-180(105), 41-76, 42-89, 100-08(75), 0-78(78), 90-69, 63-29, 70-27] to set up a date with Naseem, also from Punjab, who defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Aakash Rafiq 5-1 [69-56, 70-32, 25-71, 67-10, 78-57(58), 65-31].

NBP’s Asjad Iqbal also progressed following his 5-3 [77-34(61), 72-21, 18-57, 20-62, 98-33(97), 65-57, 21-58, 65-35] victory against Sindh’s Ali Hamza and will face Punjab’s Shahid in the quarters after he downed Abdul Sattar from Sindh 5-4 [67-15(63), 32-91, 78-52, 16-76, 20-65(60), 63-41, 60-41, 66-79(58), 74-51].

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2024