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KARACHI: Three outsiders joined the top seed in the semi-final quartet of the Del Monte fourth ranking snooker cup as the event entered knockout stage on completion of group matches on Friday.
The three, who stormed into the last four at the expense of seeded cueists, were seventh seed Mohammad Asif (Punjab), 10th seed Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and 11th seed Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab). Country’s top player Imran Shahzad, also from Punjab, lived up to his billing by clearing the first hurdle.
The seeded players who performed below par were second seed M Asif Toba, third seed Sultan Mohammad and fourth seed Sohail Shahzad.
Sharjeel, who lost 4-5 to Khurram Agha in the third ranking event last month, topped Group ‘A’ with six wins and a defeat while Imran had to be content with second slot winning five matches and losing two.
Asif emerged Group ‘B’ champion with six victories and a defeat under his belt followed by Sajjad who returned victorious in five games besides losing two.
Asif faces Imran in the best of 11 frames first semi-final at 10am while Sharjeel takes on Sajjad in the second at 2pm.
Sharjeel rounded-off his league engagements by recovering from 1-3 down to post 4-3 victory over Mohammad Imran the scores being 24-75, 78-10, 30-80, 43-47, 56-23, 86-5, 59-35.
Imran, who has won two ranking titles this year, had a smooth passage as he got a walkover against Sohail Shahzad in his last fixture.
Asif dropped two frames while registering 4-2 victory over national champion Shahid Aftab (63-24, 43-35, 12-81, 91-0, 40-76, 64-9) while Sajjad, who has recovered after an unimpressive start, gets the better of his pupil Asjad Iqbal 4-2. He came back from two frames down to inflict 1-69, 9-62, 53-7, 81-37, 79-39, 54-42 victory.
Results: Imran Shahzad (Sindh) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) (walkover); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-2 (54-46, 78-17, 50-25, 6-76, 40-61, 62-40); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (64-29, 0-103, 62-65, 67-48, 66-7, 66-37); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 4-2 (63-24, 43-35, 12-81, 91-0, 40-76, 64-9); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Imran 4-3 (24-75, 78-10, 30-80, 43-47, 56-23, 86-5, 59-35); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-2 (1-69, 9-62, 53-7, 81-37, 79-39, 54-42); Mohammad Javed (Punjab) bt Bilawal Agha (Sindh) 4-1 (57-60, 58-18, 91-53, 82-11, 53-42); Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-1 (64-53, 62-63, 62-32, 71-32, 76-54).
