KARACHI, Jan 21: Newcomer Imran Mughal sprang a mild surprise when he handed out a 4-0 drubbing to 10th seed Arifullah, when the 28th Red & White National Snooker Championship began at the KPT Sports Complex on Tuesday.

The youngster seeded No.2 in Lahore ended the one-sided competition in style by chalking up a break of 59 in the final frame.

Arifullah, a seeded veteran who can beat the best on his day, was completely outclassed as Imran missed very rarely on his way to his splendid victory.

Later in the evening session more upsets were in store. Two other new faces from the Punjab Nadeem Rashid and Mohammad Asif shocked two of Karachi’s most promising youngsters Amit Parwani and Vishan Gir.

Nadim ranked 5th in the Punjab, beat 11th seed Amit 4-2 and Asif ranked 6th, overwhelmed 12th seed Vishan Gir by an identical manner.

After taking the first frame, Amit was all at sea in the next two frames, before equalising at 2-2, picking up the fourth frame 65/60. But any illusion Amit had of making a comeback was dashed to the ground when Nadim playing superb snooker pinched the next two frames.

On the other hand Asif took the first frame from Vishan and was soon ahead 2-1 after perky left-hander equalised at 1-1. Vishan came abreast against at 2-2, but was completely outplayed in the vital fifth frame 99/0. However, aware that he was sinking fast, Vishan took a comfortable 31/0 lead in the sixth frame. Undaunted by the proceedings Asif came back with vengeance sealing the match in his favour with a quick break of 64.

In fact it was indeed a good day for the Punjab cueists. Mohammad Nazir whipped Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) 4-0, with a parting break of 89, while Saqib Butt striking a break of 44 in the fourth frame, outplayed Sindh’s Mohammad Baqar 4-2. But M. Faiq Malik had to break into a sweat while overcoming the spirited challenge of counterpart Raees Khan 4-3, with the loser leading by three frames to two at one stage of the game.

It was mentioned in these columns not long ago, that Punjab was emerging with a score of promising youngsters and yesterday’s matches proved us right.

Former Sindh Cup champion Shahdab Baig was in tremendous form while silencing Masood Ahmed also from Sindh 4-0 with breaks of 43 and 51. Another promising Sindh cueist Faisal Essa, had no difficulty in handing out a 4-0 defeat to Mukhtar Khan. The same could be said about Irfan R. Khan, who downed Farouk Usman also by a 4-0 margin. The veteran of the tournament Mohammad Akhlas, also made his presence felt with a 4-0 defeat over Punjab’s Raja Rashid and Minhas Malik looked calm and cool as he cruised past Punjab’s Shahid Malik 4-1.

In a match that went the full distance, Sindh’s Kashif Khan finally got the better of Balochistan’s Kamran Shah 4-3 in a see saw tussle.

Veteran Yousuf Haroon got a walk-over against former Pakistan No.2 Younus Amir Bux, who is hospitalised due to food poisoning. Balochistan’s Mustafa Hyder earned a walk-over Ahmer Shaikh, Punjab’s Abu Saim did not have to use his cue on Tuesday as his opponent from Punjab Fahad Asif failed to turn up at the venue. Another Punjab cueist Farhan Noor also failed to turn up for his match which enabled Sindh’s Najmur Rehman earn a walk-over.

The matches involving top seeds to start from Wednesday.

Following are the first day’s results:

Shadab Baig (Sindh) bt Masood Ahmed Sindh) 4-0: 58/40, 44/41, 75/23, 72/1. Faisal Essa (Sindh) bt Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) 4-0: 53/45, 60/39, 58/41, 56/19. Irfan R. Khan (Sindh) bt Faroukh Usman (Sindh) 4-0: 55/13, 49/37, 65/59, 62/48. Mohammad Akhlas (Sindh) bt Raja Rashid (Punjab) 4-0: 68/34, 66/29, 73/25, 60/16. Saqib Butt (Punjab) bt Mohammad Baqar (Sindh) 4-2: 59/43, 44/62, 71/21, 75/6, 8/81, 70/2. Kashif Khan (Sindh) bt Kamran Shah (Balochistan) 4-3: 54/35, 70/30, 45.68, 52/64, 67/29, 2/61, 57/45. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) bt Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) 4-0: 72/33, 64/38, 75/24, 89/5. M. Faiq Malik (Punjab) bt Raees Khan (Punjab) 4-3: 37/66, 66/16, 55/59, 57/46, 42/72, 56/41, 55/42. Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-2: 61/50, 50/57, 67/37, 20/67, 99/0, 74/31. Nadeem Rashid (Punjab) bt Amit Parwani (Sindh) 4-2: 45/70, 51/31, 61/7, 60/65, 71/40, 60/49. Imran Mughal (Punjab) bt Arifullah (NWFP) 4-0: 52/45, 67/27, 102/20, 77/47. Minhas Malik (Sindh) bt Mohammad Shahid Punjab) 4-1: 84/19, 73/39, 15/76, 60/40, 55/42. Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) w/o Younus Amir Bux (Sindh). Mustafa Hyder (Balochistan) w/o Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh). Abu Saim (Punjab) w/o Fahad Asif (Punjab). Najmur Rehman (Sindh) w/o Farhan Noor (Punjab.)