KARACHI, March 17: At least two seeded cueists tasted shock defeats while others kept their winning run intact in the 33rd National Snooker Championship at the Karachi Gymkhana on Monday.
Defending champion and first seed Naveen Perwani was caught on the wrong foot, losing to Punjab’s Mohammad Sajjad 2-4. Though the former reduced the deficit after conceding three frames but could not maintain it and lost. Sajjad won the battle 55-46, 61-23, 96-28, 29-75, 47-62, 70-7.
Similarly, Sindh’s Abdul Sattar pulled-off another upset of the day when he toppled Punjab’s sixth seed Shehram Changezi in gruelling encounter 4-3. After a seesaw battle until 3-3, Sattar won the decider to seal the fate. Final scores were: 52-58, 60-45, 20-75, 52-34, 66-6, 17-105, 62-31.
The top four seeds – Saleh Mohammad, Imran Shahzad, Mohammad Yousuf and Khurram Agha – consolidated their position by registering second straight victories.
Meanwhile, despite visiting the venue the organisers failed to provide results till our going to the press on Sunday.
Results:
Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 4-2 (55-46, 61-23, 96-28, 29-75, 47-62, 70-7); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Shehram Changezi (Punjab) 4-3 (52-58, 60-45, 20-75, 52-34, 66-6, 17-105, 62-31); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Ayaz Khan 4-3 (81-36, 17-55, 82-25, 12-79, 3-76, 92-1, 69-20); Imtiaz Sarwer (Punjab) bt Mohammad Aqeel (NWFP) 4-0 (74-47, 94-16, 66-48, 112-0); Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-1 (19-76, 77-15, 55-33, 82-14, 79-35); Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Waqas Malik (Sindh) 4-0 (80-42, 63-18, 54-16, 72-8); Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Ahsan Javed (Punjab) 4-2 (70-36, 73-53, 49-37, 54-61, 38-67, 62-42); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Hameedullah (NWFP) 4-1 (80-33, 60-27, 67-63, 16-72, 89-49); Shah Khan (NWFP) bt Mohammad Imran (Punjab) 4-3 (64-54, 75-0, 30-68, 46-49, 57-23, 42-65, 65-19); Imran Qamar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ali (Balochistan) 4-2 (60-21, 70-82, 86-0, 70-22, 47-73, 69-18); Sharjeel Mahmood (NWFP) bt Abdul Samad (Sindh) 4-2 (63-20, 98-17, 48-50, 20-67, 47-12, 60-40); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Afzal (Punjab) 4-0 (66-47, 69-39, 58-50, 72-22).
Tuesday’s fixtures:
Ali Daryab v Mohammad Asif Toba, Inam-ur-Rehman v Waqas Malik, Saqib Butt v Ahsan Javed, Qasim Kamani v Hamedullah at 10.00am; Abdul Rauf Kurd v Mohammad Sajjad, Nouman Awan v Abdul Sattar, Farhan Noor v Ayaz Khan, Javed Ansari v Mohammad Aqeel at 12.00noon; Rambel Gul v Mudassir, Mohammad Shahid v Qadeer Butt, Sohail Shehzad v Kashif Khan, Atif Mughal v Tahir Abbas at 2.00pm; Mohammad Riaz v Shah Khan, Vishan Gir v Imran Qamar, Raees Khan v Abdul Samad, Mohammad Nazeer v Mohammad Afzal at 4.00pm.
