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KARACHI: Two prominent players — reigning national champion Shahid Aftab and defending champion Asjad Iqbal — crashed out of the third NBP ranking snooker championship at the Karachi Club on Friday.
Shahid, who has returned from Bangkok recently after competing in the Snooker World Cup, disappointed followers of the game as he could not win any of his three group ‘A’ games losing 3-4 to Hamza Akbar, 3-4 to Qasim Kamani and 0-4 to Abdul Sattar.
Asjad, on the other hand, won only one fixture against Khurram Agha 4-3 losing the other two 3-4 to Imran Qamar and 2-4 to Mohammad Asif in group H.
However, despite losing his last fixture 3-4 to Ayaz Khan, Pakistan No 2 Imran Shehzad topped group ‘B’ and surged to knockout stage.
Joining the fray were two veterans — Naveen Perwani and Mohammad Yousuf. The former topped group ‘F’ while the latter finished runner-up in group ‘G.’
Meanwhile, despite putting up a fine performance in the league matches, century break maker (122) Qasim Kamani, could not advance into the knockout pre quarter-finals.
After winning his opener 4-2 against Abdul Sattar, he defeated Shahid Aftab 4-3 in a nail-biting finish Thursday night in the four-hour match that ended at 11.30pm. Needing three frames to qualify for knockout stage, he suffered a 2-4 loss in the last tie at the hands of Hamza Akbar.
Those who have advanced into pre quarter-finals include Abdul Sattar, Hamza Akbar (A); Imran Shehzad, Bilawal Agha (B); Mohammad Imran, Nauman Awan (C); Umair Alam, Sultan Mohammad (D); Sohail Shahzad, Sharjeel Mehmood (E); Naveen Perwani, Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (F); M. Asif Toba, Mohammad Yousuf (H); Mohammad Asif, Imran Qamar (H).
The best of nine frames pre quarter-finals will be played in two sessions with first starting at 10am and second at 2pm.
Results: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-2 (42-57, 81-0, 38-71, 85-0, 72-60, 67-17); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (75-8, 64-45, 66-72, 67-37, 64-8); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Javed (Punjab) 4-3 (62-52, 51-55, 18-70, 68-36, 49-83, 77-18, 68-37); M. Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-3 (78-43, 38-73, 32-78, 28-76, 64-32, 66-39, 52-44); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-2 (25-70, 59-63, 67-31, 70-54, 70-56, 60-32); Ayaz Khan (Punjab) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-3 (56-67, 11-72, 58-54, 7-71, 60-13, 57-6, 67-52); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Shahid Aftab
(Punjab) 4-0 (75-35, 47-38, 61-37, 61-57); Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) (walkover); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Imran Qamar (Punjab) 4-3 (77-59, 37-80, 21-69, 44-57, 97-4, 71-17, 70-36); Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Punjab) bt Arshad Siddiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) (walkover); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Faisal Kashmiri 4-0 (79-8, 61-40, 67-10, 73-29); Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Hameedullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) (walkover); Bilawal Agha (Sindh) bt Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (72-30, 70-31, 79-1, 56-20); Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Qasim Kamani (Sindh) 4-2 (71-18, 39-71, 79-9, 15-60, 75-43, 65-11); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Abdul Rehman (Balochistan) 4-0 (60-5, 68-19, 61-13, 49-8).
Saturday’s fixtures: Pre quarter-finals: Mohammad Imran v Imran Qamar, Rashid Mehmood Abbasi v Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Asif Toba v Sultan Mohammad, Agha Bilawal v Sohail Shahzad at 10am; Naveen Perwani v Hamza Akbar, Imran Shahzad v Mohammad Yousuf; Umair Alam v Nauman Awan, Mohammad Asif v Sharjeel Mehmood at 2pm.
