KARACHI, Feb 23: Junior Sindh champion Mohammad Ishtiaq suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Punjab’s lower ranked cueist Hamza Akber in three frames in group A of the National Junior U-21 Snooker championship at the Karachi Club on Monday.

Ishtiaq, who stunned top seed Agha Bilawal to win the provincial title recently, failed to find his rhythm and lost 37-75, 31-59, 45-71.

Hamid Yunus pulled off yet another upset when he recovered from two frames down to beat Punjab junior champion Mohammad Afzal 3-2 in all-Punjab encounter in group B. The scores were 22-63, 0-75, 64-41, 56-22, 60-35.

Title holder Ayaz Khan of Punjab, meanwhile, continued his winning run getting the better of NWFP junior champion Umer Ejaz straight 70-26, 74-30, 60-14 in group C battle.

Similarly, promising Azeem Yousuf entertained the spectators by keeping his winning run intact registering an impressive 64-22, 56-11, 72-25 victory over NWFP’s Ihsan Ali in group H.

Results:

M. Azeem Yousuf (Sindh) bt Ihsan Ali (NWFP) 3-0 (64-22, 56-11, 72-25); Imran Ali (Balochistan) bt Salman Siddique (Sindh) 3-1 (84-48, 64-62, 32-56, 61-59); Arsalan Sarwer (Punjab) bt Farhad Ali (Balochistan) 3-1 (68-13, 53-73, 54-18, 53-34); M. Yasir Khan (Sindh) bt Qamar U. Zaman (Balochistan) 3-0 (60-31, 67-37, 73-29); Fahad (Sindh) walkover Zeeshan Liaquat (NWFP): Ahsan Raza (Sindh) bt Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 3-1 (105-17, 72-41, 36-49, 67-34); Arsalan Munir (Punjab) bt Sheroze Anis (Sindh) 3-2 (38-27, 47-34, 38-64, 34-48, 67-10); Asadullah Rogatia (Sindh) bt Abdul Basit (Sindh) 3-1

(35-60, 65-51, 60-28, 58-44); Kamran (Balochistan) bt M. Kafil Nazir (Punjab) 3-2 (53-94, 48-13, 40-58, 58-30, 59-23); Qamar Zaman Khan (Punjab) bt Fawad Khan (NWFP) 3-0 (81-25, 70-33, 80-16); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt M. Javed Iqbal (NWFP) 3-0 (76-9, 48-35, 90-20); Amjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt M. Shiraz (Punjab) 3-1 (56-30, 65-34, 49-60, 60-11); Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) bt Usman Shaikh (Punjab) 3-0 (72-50, 56-48, 48-31); Hamid Yunus (Punjab) bt Mohammad Afzal (Punjab) 3-2 (22-63, 0-75, 64-41, 56-22, 60-35); Hamza Akber (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 3-0 (75-37, 59-31, 71-45); Ayaz Khan (Punjab) bt Umer Ejaz (NWFP) 3-0 (70-26, 74-30, 60-14).

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Usman Shaikh v Zeeshan Liaquat, Qamar Zaman Khan v Salman A. Siddique, Agha Bilawal v Arsalan Sarwer, Riaz Jan v M. Yasir Khan (10.00am); Abdul Raziq v Fahad, Mohammad Afzal v Ahsan Raza, Mohammad Ishtiaq v Arsalan Munir, Umer Ejaz v Asadullah Rogatia (12noon); Kamran v M. Azeem Yousuf, Fawad Khan v Imran Ali, M. Javed Iqbal v Farhad Ali, Amjad Iqbal v Qamar U. Zaman (2.00pm); M. Kafil Nazir v Ihsan Ali, Hamid Yunus v Haris Nadeem, Hamza Akber v Sheroze Anis, Ayaz Khan v Abdul Basit.