KARACHI: Three unsee­ded cueists are among seven who have stepped into the knockout round of last-16 as upsets continued in the ninth National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship at the bank’s sports complex on Thursday.

The unseeded players who have crossed first hurdle include Sindh champion Agha Bilawal (group A), national junior under-21 runner-up Haris Tahir (group C) and fomer Asian under-21 losing finalist Mohammad Majid Ali (group D).

Asjad Iqbal, Mubashir Raza (group B), Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Ijaz (group E) forms the seeded quartet who have cruised into next phase.

Meanwhile, Sindh’s Bilawal sent shock waves when he bulldozed the reigning national champion and top seed Mohammad Sajjad straight to top group A. He was home 58-47, 52-15, 66-14, 80-48.

The decline of eight seed Shahram Changezi continued as he lost his second successive match to former Sindh No 2 Zulfiqar A Qadi 2-4. Qadir won the duel 15-87, 59-14, 104-8, 85-19, 20-67, 66-55.

In a nerve-tingling encounter, experienced Abu Saim fought back from 1-3 down to shock sixth seed Sohail Shehzad 4-3 the scores being 71-31, 49-60, 35-66, 34-65, 63-47, 65-28, 80-54.

The league matches concludes on Friday.

Results:

Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-0 (58-47, 52-15, 66-14, 80-48);Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-3 (59-30, 82-17, 23-82, 53-55, 61-59, 35-63, 75-57); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (64-35, 59-32, 47-58, 43-72, 66-46, 0-94, 88-31); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Shahid Shafiq (Punjab) 4-2 (59-55, 24-52, 50-17, 113-0, 45-47, 70-59); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Munawwar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-0 (67-2, 89-1, 58-50, 70-18); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-0 (66-18, 65-27, 75-64, 72-5); Nadir Miraan (Punjab) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-2 (58-66, 66-52, 61-12, 52-25, 53-62, 74-30); — Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-3 (72-50, 50-14, 75-48, 16-59, 7-76, 0-75, 67-14); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-2 (87-39, 63-52, 24-74, 41-69, 67-56, 50-19); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Mohammad Saqib (Punjab) 4-0 (58-43, 65-3, 83-1, 59-17); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-0 (96-23, 65-30, 67-16, 71-16); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-0 (82-17, 50-9, 67-14, 53-10); Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) bt Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) 4-2 (15-87, 59-14, 104-8, 85-19, 20-67, 66-55); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) 4-3 (66-25, 41-44, 30-81, 56-32, 58-33, 12-73, 67-64).; Abu Sain (Punjab) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 4-3 (71-31, 49-60, 35-66, 34-65, 63-47, 65-28, 80-54).

Friday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) vs Mohammad Saqib Punjab); Abu Saim (Punjab) vs Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) vs Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) vs Mohammad Faizan (Sindh).

At 12noon: Shahid Aftab (Punjab) vs Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) vs Mohammad Asif (Punjab); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) vs Babar Masih (Punjab); Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) vs Mohammad Bilal (Punjab).

At 2pm: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) vs Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) vs Mubashir Raza (Punjab); Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) vs Abdul Sattar (Sindh); Nadir Mirran (Punjab) vs Imran Shehzad (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2017