KARACHI, Feb 4: The top two seeds of the fifth national junior under-21 snooker championship, Amir Tariq (Punjab) and Khizar Aziz (Sindh) respectively, notched up successive victories on the opening day here at the Sheraton hotel on Monday.

Punjab champion Amir opened his campaign when he blanked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohammad Rafiq 85-25, 88-1, 65-31 in the morning and later whipped Balochistan’s Jehanzeb 72-25, 69-7, 70-0 in the evening to maintain his unbeaten run in Group ‘A’.

Similarly, Sindh champion and second seed Khizar coasted to 61-21, 85-17, 54-48 victory over Balochistan’s Shehryar Jaffar and accounted for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Ashar Arshad 65-11, 64-24, 84-1 to live up to his billing in Group ‘B’.

Third seed Mohammad Kashif from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had mixed fortunes winning one and losing one match in Group ‘C’ while fourth seed Saif Ali Khan, the Balochistan No 1, suffered defeats in both his matches in Group ‘D’.

Last year’s runner-up, Mohammad Majid Ali, who is seeded tenth, was quick while registering 75-1, 71-18, 58-19 victory against Khushi Mohammad of Balochistan in the only match he played.

Meanwhile, draws of the event were revised in the morning with two changes. Jehanzeb Khan replaced Ahsan Zakir in Group ‘A’ while Sudesh Kumar succeeded Mohammad Amir in group B. The four cueists belonged to Balochistan.

Results:

Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Mohammad Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (85-25, 88-1, 65-31); Khizar Aziz (Sindh) bt Shehryar Jaffar (Balochistan) 3-0 (61-21, 85-17, 54-48); Mohsin Ameen (Punjab) bt Mohammad Kashif (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (67-20, 56-3, 22-72, 72-20); Mohammad Usman (Sindh) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 3-0 (62-45, 55-21, 57-32); Waqar Bhatti (Balochistan) bt Jehanzeb (Balochistan) 3-0 (59-45, 75-23, 54-32); Zeeshan Mursaleen (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Ashar Arshad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (54-23, 69-40, 43-20); Shariq Ali (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yasir (Sindh) 3-1 (First frame awarded to Shariq, 23-58, 61-20, 57-53); Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Zain Ahmed (Punjab) 3-1 (77-20, 48-56, 76-10, 75-0); Fahad Khan (Sindh) bt Tayyab Anwar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (60-16, 59-45, 62-72, 58-25); Zahid Ilyas (Punjab) bt Sudesh Kumar (Balochistan) 3-1 (66-45, 18-61, 65-35, 56-33); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Khushi Mohammad (Balochistan) 3-0 (75-1, 71-18, 58-19); Haris Nadeem (Sindh) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (47-16, 22-88, 55-32, 69-32); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Jehanzeb (Balochistan) 3-0 (72-25, 69-7, 70-0); Khizar Aziz (Sindh) bt Ashar Arshad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (65-11, 64-24, 84-1); Mohammad Kashif (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Shariq Ali (Sindh) 3-2 (50-48, 66-42, 37-58, 43-47, 65-20); Zain Ahmed (Punjab) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 3-1 (37-47, 50-15, 7-27, 78-49).

Tuesday’s fixtures:

Matches start at 10am.