KARACHI, Dec 27: Defending Champion Muhammad Akhlas entered the last eight stage of Sindh Cup snooker championship, compiling three fine breaks while inflicting 4-0 defeat on Aamir Samdani at Aly’s Parlour Friday.

Akhlas started with a break of 47 in the first, cracked break of 83 in the second and raced to victory with another neat break of 78 in the final frame to record an impressive victory.

With this win, Akhlas secured a berth in the forthcoming national championship.

All the quarterfinalists will automatically qualify to feature in the national event to be held late next month.

Others who moved into the quarterfinals included Masood Ahmed, Najam-ur-Rehman, veteran Yousuf Haroon and Mukhtar Khan.

Masood dropped penultimate frame before brushing aside Saqib Zia. Najam-ur-Rehman, who Thursday ousted fancied Ahmed Baway lost fourth and fifth frame before overcoming Zahid Junejo.

Veteran Yousuf Haroon of Sindh Club looked in fine touch with an easy 4-1 win over promising Farhan Idrees and Mukhtar Khan beat newcomer Asad Azeem by same margin.

The quarter final and semi finals of the tournament will be played Saturday while the final will be contested on Sunday.

Pre-quarterfinals results:

Muhammad Akhlas bt Aamir Samdani 4-0 70-21, 83-05, 63-41, 78-20, Masood Ahmed bt Saqib Zia 4-1 80-25, 52-21, 78-45, 46-54, 61-48, Najam-ur-Rehman bt Zahid Junejo 4-2 66-41, 75-09, 70-19, 46-54, 27-56, 61-19 Yousuf Haroon bt Farhan Idrees 4-1 66-30, 56-59, 64-50, 66-30, 53-39 Mukhtar Khan bt Asad Azeem 4-1 88-16, 67-31, 36-76, 67-25, 60-35.—APP