KARACHI, May 30 Khurram Agha, a former Asian No 3 who has been relegated to ninth seed, on Saturday ended the jinx when he hammered first century break (122) as top five seeds made it to the quarter-finals of the NBP Ranking Snooker championship at the Karachi Club.
Sindh's Khurram, who crowned national title three years back, cracked the break in the second frame while registering an emphatic 5-1 victory over Punjab's Mohammad Afzal, the 11th seed. Khurram was home 85-1, 131-0, 82-25, 11-54, 74-43, 79-1.
Two other outsiders who joined him in the last eight include 17th seed Naveen Perwani and 29th seed Mohammad Asif Toba. While the former fought tooth and nail to overcome Mohammad Jawed (Punjab) 5-4, the latter emerged 5-1 victorious against Mohammad Naeem, also from Punjab.
Meanwhile, top seeds Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Raees Khan, Sharjeel Mahmood and Inamur Rehman were through to the last eight.
The best of nine frames quarter-finals will be played simultaneously on Sunday at 10.00am followed by semi-finals at 2.00pm.
Results
Pre quarter-finals
Raees Khan (Punjab) bt Qasim Kamani (Sindh) 5-4 (70-1, 23-57, 1-94, 65-64, 27-70, 12-62, 86-1, 64-35, 64-13); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Nazeer (Punjab) 5-1 (68-17, 54-68, 75-39, 74-35, 50-24, 89-15); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammed Naeem (Punjab) 5-1 (22-71, 60-25, 59-23, 85-28, 52-41, 64-34); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Mohammad Jawed (Punjab) 5-4 (10-80, 69-34, 65-34, 47-85, 33-79, 54-42, 29-67, 87-27, 76-26); Inamur Rehman (NWFP) bt Vishan Gir (Sindh) 5-0 (57-50, 72-31, 64-38, 74-43, 65-23); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Afzal (Punjab) 5-1 (85-1, 131-0, 82-25, 11-54, 74-43, 79-1); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 5-4 (38-75, 66-37, 63-53, 91-0, 7-92, 17-54, 51-76, 62-42, 61-49); Sharjeel Mahmood (NWFP) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 5-2 (79-38, 61-37, 9-72, 19-61, 76-43, 72-18, 56-33).
Sunday's fixtures
Quarter-finals (best of 9 frames) Raees Khan v Mohammad Asif; Mohammad Asif Toba v Naveen Perwani; Inamur Rehman v Khurram Agha; Mohammad Sajjad v Sharjeel Mahmood at 10.00am.
Semi-finals at 2.00pm
