KARACHI, Sept 19: Top seed Khurram Hussain Agha and second seed Saleh Mohammad, at one stage dangerously poised to be eliminated in the 16th Red & White Latif Masters snooker tournament, at the Karachi Club Thursday, came storming back in their last respective encounters to join third seed Mohammad Yousuf and fourth seed Naveen Perwani in the semifinals.

Khurram after leading 3-1, had a few hiccups when Naveen evened the scores 3-3, but finally came through a 4-3 winner by grabbing the final frame.

On the other hand Saleh 2-0 and later 3-2 down against Yousuf, fought his way back into contention by also scraping through a 4-3 winner. In the last day of the qualifying rounds that had its full share of thrills and spills, Khurram won the opening frame 84/36. Naveen with two fine breaks of 58 and 48 snatched the second frame 106/11 to level the scores 1-1, only to see Khurram draw away 3-1, just a frame from victory.

Fighting back, Naveen sounded two sparkling breaks, one of 76 and a magnificent clearance of 83 points in the next two frames and was on even par once again at 3-3.

Khurram aware that he was sinking fast and in danger of bowing out of the tournament, received a lucky break when Naveen missed his first red ball which provided the former with a scoring opportunity in the final frame.

Cashing in on Naveen’s error, the top seed built up a favourable lead and scoring with every visit to the table, forced Naveen to throw in the towel 0/73, with two reds and the coloured balls still on the table.

This close victory enabled Khurram to top Pool A with five points and a +12 frame advantage. Naveen also had five points, but he had a +10 frame advantage.

Second seed Saleh began his match against Yousuf on a dreadful note losing the first two frames 20/79, 29/74. Saleh however, got his act together and was soon abreast 2-2, pocketing the next two frames.

Yousuf once more took over the proceedings by winning the fifth frame to forge ahead 3-2. With defeat staring him in the face Saleh took the next frame 63/35 and was back on even keel 3-3. Reserving his best for the final frame, Saleh chalked up a magnificent break of 58 to come through a 4-3 winner.

Although on the losing side, Yousuf topped Pool B with five points and a +8 frame advantage. Saleh also scoring five points had to be satisfied with the second spot with a +4 frame advantage.

So evenly matched was this tournament, that four cueists finished with five points each in Pool A and not less than five had the same number of points in Pool B.

Punjab’s Imran Shehzad finished third in Pool A with five points and a +5 frame advantage. Vishan Gir was fourth with five points and +4 frame advantage, while Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) was fifth with three points and -4 frame advantage, followed by NWFP’s Arifullah three points and -8 frame advantage and Sindh’s Minhas Malik, with two points and -12 frame advantage.

Finishing third in Pool B was Atiq Latif Bux with five points and +1 frame advantage, followed by Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh), five points and nil frame advantage, M. Faiq Malik (Punjab) five points -1 frame advantage and Amit Parwani with two points and -12 frame advantage.

In the other matches played Thursday, Minhas Malik registered in first win in the tournament, when he downed Punjab’s Mohammad Nazir 4-2, although the latter chalked up a break of 56 in the third frame. Vishan Gir with breaks of 55 and 46 in the last two frames, got the better of Arifullah 4-3, while Shakeel Bhatti had to work up a sweat in overcoming the likes of Amit Parwani 4-2.

In the semifinals scheduled for 3.p.m. in the best of 11 frames, top seed Khurram meets second seed Saleh, while third seed Mohammad will take on fourth seed Naveen.

It may be mentioned that Khurram, Saleh and Mohammad along with Farhan Mirza were already selected in the snooker team to represent Pakistan in the 14th Asian Games to be held in Busan (S. Korea) from Sept 29 to Oct. 14.

It has now been learnt that Farhan has pulled out of the Pakistan squad due to a freak accident he incurred in Sweden.

Following are Thursday’s results.

Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Mohammad Nazir (Punjab 4-2: 59/54, 23/56, 31/69, 71/11, 66/2, 52/31. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 4-3: 84/36, 11/106, 66/14, 95/20, 1/76, 40/83, 73/0. Vishan Gir Sindh) beat Arifullah (NWFP) 4-3: 39/63, 65/47, 64/53, 44/48, 66/27, 70/38, 71/39. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-3: 20/70, 29/74, 62/52, 69/29, 30/74, 63/35, 65/9. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Amit Parwani (Sindh) 4-2: 62/34, 49/60, 53/43, 77/44, 24/62, 64/39.