KARACHI, March 10: Two top seeded players - Mohammad Yousuf and Imran Shehzad – rounded off their league matches on a sour note, tasting defeats at the hands of low ranked cueists in the 32nd National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

However, despite losing the battle, they topped their respective groups to advance into the knockout pre quarter-finals.

Punjab’s 15th seed Imran Qamar ended the winning streak of second seed Mohammad Yousuf chalking up an impressive 4-3 victory while 13th seed Saqib Butt, also hailing from Punjab, got the better of fourth seed Imran Shehzad by the identical margin.

Veteran Yousuf who had a good start winning the opening frame 59-24 soon found him in hot waters to trail 1-3. Recovering from the deficit, Imran picked up second, third and fourth frames 77-7, 57-13 and 68-35 to surge ahead. Needing just a frame to win, Imran conceded the next two frames 7-79 and 20-68 to be tied at 3-3all. Finally, Imran won the decisive frame 51-41 to register a victory.

Playing on the adjacent table, losing finalist of last national championship, Imran Shehzad, was also stretched to limits before surrendering the encounter to Saqib. The latter was home 17-67, 67-43, 10-65, 70-22, 70-22, 14-68 and 68-32.

Third seed Naveen Perwani survived a scare overcoming Imtiaz Tipu 4-3 in the absorbing match to top group ‘C’. The scores were: 67-15, 3-60, 58-45, 12-64, 22-64, 80-7 and 75-13.

Reigning national champion and top seed, Khurram Agha, ended his group matches with a clean slate when he conjured up 4-1 victory over Irfan R. Khan the scores being 18-65, 65-17, 64-23, 35-29 and 56-42.

The league matches concludes on Sunday followed by knockout stage which is slated to commence the next day.

Results: Vishan Gir bt Mohammad Asif 4-2 (34-64, 27-64, 62-0, 51-45, 60-17, 57-19), Khurram Agha bt Irfan R. Khan 4-1 (18-65, 65-17, 64-23, 35-29, 56-42), Naveen Perwani bt M. Imtiaz Tipu 4-3 (67-15, 3-60, 58-45, 12-64, 22-64, 80-7, 75-13), Rambel Gul bt Syed Mesam Zaidi 4-3 (19-63, 27-62, 46-55, 70-50, 59-45, 59-20, 62-21), Abu Saim bt Salman Shaikh 4-1 (60-20, 88-17, 31-91, 69-16, 62-44), Imran Qamar bt Mohammad Yousuf 4-3 (24-59, 77-7, 57-13, 68-35, 7-79, 20-68, 51-41), Saqib Butt bt Imran Shehzad 4-3 (17-67, 67-43, 10-65, 70-22, 70-22, 14-68, 68-32), Sohail Shehzad bt Raees Khan 4-2 (73-29, 14-65, 47-11, 45-76, 54-52, 64-45), Mohammad Nazeer bt Ziaur Rehman 4-1 (64-36, 57-77, 78-31, 61-59, 71-33), Jawed Ansari bt Kamran Shah 4-3 (18-46, 35-66, 97-42, 45-63, 71-39, 78-6, 89-76), Shahid Shafiq bt Asad Pervaiz 4-2 (48-26, 62-27, 56-24, 51-54, 46-51, 50-15).

Sunday’s fixtures: Balochistan No 8 v Nasim Paracha, Bilal Ahmed v Mohammad Riaz, Balochistan No 7 v Abdul Jalil, Mohammad Shahid v Atif Mughal at 10am; Hameedullah v Kamran Razzak, Asim Ghani v Farhan Mirza, Shah Khan v Mohammad Ali Zaidi, Mohsin Raza v Amar at 12noon. —AZ