KARACHI, Feb 7: At least five outsiders, including last year’s runner-up Mohammad Majid Ali, stormed into knockout quarter-finals on completion of league matches in the fifth national junior under-21 snooker championship at hotel Sheraton on Thursday.
The eight cueists who made it to the quarters were top seed Amir Tariq (Punjab), second seed Khizar Aziz (Sindh), fifth seed Hamza Akbar (Punjab), 10th seed Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), and unseeded M. Fahad Khan (Sindh), Zahid Ilyas (Punjab), Mohsin Ameen (Punjab) and Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
Amir, Khizar and Majid, meanwhile, completed their league engagements on a winning note. Amir gave a 79-24, 54-53, 47-34 drubbing to Balochistan’s Waqar Bhatti. Similarly, Khizar faced no difficulty in outwitting Zeeshan Mursaleen 80-12, 74-35, 69-5 while Majid gets the better of Shariq Ali 59-6, 45-38, 62-39.
Only three of the eight cueists namely Amir, Khizar and Majid emerged group A, B and C champions respectively with an unbeaten record while Hamza, who topped group D, suffered one loss in five games.
The best of seven quarter-finals will be played on Friday at 10am. Khizar faces Mohsin Ameen while Hamza will be up against Fahad Khan. In the other two quarters Amir is drawn to meet Zahid Ilyas while Majid meets Amir Sohail.
The quarters will be followed by semi-finals to be played over seven frames.
Results: Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Waqar Bhatti (Balochistan) 3-0 (79-24, 54-53, 47-34); Khizar Aziz (Sindh) bt Zeeshan Mursaleen (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0
(80-12, 74-35, 69-5); Mohammad Kashif (Khyber Pakhtunkwa) bt Mohammad Yasir (Sindh) walkover; Hamza Akber (Punjab) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 3-0 (57-25, 70-8, 62-7); Tayyab Anwer (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Jhanzaib Khan (Balochistan) 3-0 (48-28, 38-25, 40-35); Sudesh Kumar (Balochistan) bt Ashar Arshad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (41-19, 58-11, 27-49, 65-26); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Shariq Ali (Sindh) 3-0 (59-6, 45-38, 62-39); Haris Nadeem (Sindh) bt Zain Ahmed (Punjab) 3-2 (30-95, 61-39, 75-10, 28-85, 53-33); M. Fahad Khan (Sindh) bt Mohammad Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (73-21, retired); Zahid ILyas (Punjab) bt Shehryar Jaffar (Balochistan) 3-0 (61-14, 43-16, 52-24); Mohsin Ameen (Punjab) bt Khushi Mohammad (Balochistan) 3-0 (frame awarded to Mohsin, 64-8, 75-0); Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Usman Khan (Sindh) walkover.
Friday’s fixtures: Quarter-finals: (best of seven frames at 10am).
Khizar Aziz (Sindh) v Mohsin Ameen (Punjab); Hamza Akber (Punjab) v M. Fahad Khan (Sindh); Amir Tariq (Punjab) v Zahid Ilyas (Punjab); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
Semi-finals: (best of seven frames at 1pm).
