KARACHI: Pakistan No 1 and top seed Imran Shahzad made a winning start as second seed Mohammad Asif Toba and fourth seed Sohail Shahzad lost two matches apiece on the opening day of Del Monte fourth Ranking Snooker Cup at Southend Club on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old Imran first thrashed Sindh’s Bilawal Agha 4-1 (46-39, 67-25, 70-21, 53-74, 64-28) in the morning session and then went on to register second win against Mohammad Javed 4-2 (21-59, 67-20, 36-76, 68-63, 86-31, 72-5).
Toba, the losing finalist of a ranking event held last month, was blanked 4-0 by veteran Mohammad Yousuf and fell prey 1-4 to Umair Alam to suffer back-to-back defeat.
Similarly, the runner-up of the NBP Snooker Cup, Sohail Shahzad, was caught on the wrong foot, first by Mohammad Javed, who was home 4-3 and then by Bilawal Agha, who coasted to 4-2 win.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sharjeel Mehmood also stole the limelight hammering the first century break (102) in the second frame of his 4-1 triumph over Naveen Perwani.
Results:
Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Bilawal Agha (Sindh) 4-1 (46-39, 67-25, 70-21, 53-74, 64-28); Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt M. Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-0 (65-9, 95-50, 53-29, 66-28); Mohammad Javed (Punjab) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-3 (14-66, 63-51, 7-76, 61-50, 17-60, 71-51, 94-47); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-0 (83-29, 64-20, 51-38, 58-41); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (51-59, 88-9, 71-38, 31-59, 5-81, 62-17, 71-9); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-0 (56-21, 63-43, 61-20, 75-30); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber PaKhtunkhwa) bt Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 4-1 (54-36, 124-8, 103-29, 32-72, 71-30); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-3 (63-59, 29-71, 66-25, 26-70, 36-67, 73-24, 78-46); Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Javed (Punjab) 4-2 (21-59, 67-20, 36-76, 68-63, 86-31, 72-5); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-1 (57-43, 62-22, 29-69, 71-7, 74-0); Bilalwal Agha (Sindh) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-2 (47-78, 65-11, 27-61, 83-53, 122-8, 70-17); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-3 (81-45, 72-34, 33-51, 40-91, 57-27, 59-66, 61-18); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-2 (72-37, 10-72, 61-29, 1-87, 81-3, 55-24); Sharjel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (65-62, 55-69, 69-51, 60-66, 59-26, 36-65, 76-50); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 4-2 (62-16, 70-44, 61-64, 44-65, 74-17, 58-17).
Wednesday’s fixtures: Matches start at 10am.
