KARACHI: Junior wildcard Amir Tariq, who sent shock waves by routing Pakistan No 2 Imran Shehzad on Saturday, continued his giant-killing run with an authoritative 4-1 victory over seasoned Abu Saim to stren­gthen his place for knockout stage from Group ‘B’ in the 40th National Snooker Cham­pionship at hotel Movenpick on Sunday.

Having donned national junior colours twice, the 20-year-old cueist allowed very little room to Saim, who is seeded among the top 16, and was home 60-50, 65-38, 53-45, 29-67, 77-11.

Defending champion Mohammad Asif Toba and former national champion Hamza Akbar, who fell prey to Sindh’s Mohammad Ishtiaq and Punjab’s Babar Masih respectively on the opening day, rejuvenated their act by returning victorious. The former handed a 4-2 defeat to Mohammad Ahsan Javaid while the latter overcame reigning junior champion Mohammad Faheem 4-1.

Former world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Asif continued his winning spree, inflicting a 4-1 defeat on Mohammad Uzair Aziz (70-13, 65-48, 110-21, 46-59, 56-19).

However, Punjab’s Mohammad Bilal stole the limelight when he hammered the highest break of 125 to date in the sixth frame while getting the better of Mohammad Ijaz 4-2 — the scores being 105-37, 2-61, 58-49, 76-57, 28-59, 126-0. Another century break of 106 was compiled by Asif Toba against Ahsan Javaid.

Meanwhile, two Islamabad cueists Shehram Changezi and Yasir Nadeem were robbed of their cash amounting to approximately Rs17,000 on the main university road where they had gone for dine on Saturday.

Results:

Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-2 (52-96, 59-13, 44-59, 98-8, 138-0, 67-60);

Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-1 (70-13, 65-48, 110-21, 46-59, 56-19);

Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan) 4-0 (42-31, 51-10, 97-15, 91-18);

Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (81-19, 75-43, 18-63, 74-8, 66-55);

Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (75-10, 82-3, 113-16, 86-25);

Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) 4-1 (72-18, 66-59, 52-75, 62-52, 77-14);

Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-1 (60-50, 65-38, 53-45, 29-67, 77-11);

Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (57-35, 64-16, 56-69, 50-73, 57-44, 56-35);

Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) 4-1 (57-29, 83-0, 92-40, 42-61, 73-18);

Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) bt Gul Afzal (Islamabad) 4-3 (56-67, 57-66, 63-47, 33-64, 75-27, 60-45, 64-31);

Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) bt Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (33-58, 52-37, 86-38, 130-2, 72-9);

Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Jahangir Bangulzai (Balochistan) 4-1 (56-21, 61-9, 89-16, 35-61, 59-10);

Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-2 (0-71, 74-67, 76-8, 105-18, 1-73, 87-56);

Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (46-58, 16-70, 54-58, 90-14, 60-32, 44-26, 60-29);

Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-3 (28-64, 45-73, 70-37, 82-53, 29-57, 82-43, 76-44);

Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) bt Mehmood Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (66-35, 50-63, 67-57, 32-45, 51-28, 62-34);

Hunain Amir (Punjab) bt Aamir Rasheed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (6-55, 64-54, 50-82, 64-41, 38-58, 69-26, 87-43);

Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Yasir Nadeem (Islamabad) 4-0 (77-7, 71-28, 79-10, 59-46);

Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-2 (105-37, 2-61, 58-49, 76-57, 28-59, 126-0).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Mehmood Khan (Balochistan), Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Aamir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Yasir Nadeem (Islamabad), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Bahadur Khan (Balochistan).

At 12noon: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Gul Afzal (Islamabad), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Mohammad Faizan (Sindh), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Shahid Aftab (Punjab).

At 2pm: Khurram Agha (Sindh) v Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh), Abu Saim (Punjab) v Hunain Amir (Punjab), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Ian Mark John (Sindh), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Babar Masih (Punjab).

At 4pm: Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) v Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) v Saqib Butt (Punjab), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkha).

Published in Dawn February 2nd , 2015

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