KARACHI, May 12: The top four seeds Saleh Mohammad, Naveen Perwani, Mohammad Yousuf and Imran Shehzad, forced their entry into the quarterfinals of the Ninth Ranking Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana. Top seed Saleh with splendid breaks of 64, 82 and 60, overwhelmed Shakeel Bhatti 5-1. Second seed Naveen Perwani, dropping the first frame, bundled out fifth seed Atiq Latif Bux with surprising ease 5-1, helped on with breaks of 70 and 55 in the second and third frames, enabling him to take control of the match, after Atiq won the first frame.
Former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf seeded at No.3, after a sluggish start, ended the pretensions of last year’s Sindh Cup champion Sohail Shehzad 5-2 and fourth seed Imran Shehzad was in impeccable form as he breezed past Mohammad Asif 5-0.
Apart from Shakeel, Atiq’s and Asif’s performances, young lefthander Sohail Shehzad played a better brand of snooker which had Yousuf worried in the early part of the match.
Potting well and excelling with his stun shots, Sohail grabbed the first frame and was soon leading Yousuf 2-1. But the wily veteran wore down his young opponent, who lacked experience. Sounding breaks of 51 and 56, Yousuf booked his berth in the quarterfinals with a 5-2 victory.
Joining the top four were seventh seed Inamur Rehman, who ended the winning sequence of promising youngster Imtiaz Tipu 5-2, eighth seed Shehram Changezi, who finally managed to shut out Minhas Malik 5-3, after the two were locked 3-3 at one stage of the match. Shehram then chalked up a quick break of 80 in the seventh frame which made his berth into the last eighth all the more easier.
Minhas also had his chances to win, leading 2-1, he was ahead by 24 points in the vital fourth frame with two reds and the coloured balls to pot. But he muffed up his chance to go 3-1 ahead as Shehram potted the green to black and was soon abreast 2-2.
Ninth seed Abu Saim and Raees Khan were the last two qualifers. Abu, topped Group H winning three of his four matches in the qualifying rounds and in the process toppled the defending champion Rambel Gul 4-2.
He did well on Thursday afternoon beating Saqib Zia 5-2, but now has a steep mountain to climb where he meets the top seed Saleh Mohammad on Friday morning in the quarterfinals.
The only unseeded player to reach the last eight was Raees. In a very tough encounter, Raees finally prevailed over Salman Sheikh 5-3. Salman arrived late at the playing venue and was forced to concede the first frame to Raees, which in the final analysis proved rather costly.
However Salman seemed to be on course for victory leading 3-2, but Raees fought his way back into contention and after levelling the scores 3-3, went on to grab the other two frames and match 5-3.
Following is the lineup for the quarterfinals to be played in the best of nine frames on Friday at 10.00am. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) v/s Abu Saim (Punjab). Raees Khan (Punjab) v/s Inamur Rehman (NWFP). Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) v/s Imran Shehzad (Punjab). Shehram Changezi (Punjab) v/s Naveen Perwani (Sindh). The semifinals in the best of 11 frames will be played at 3.00pm. Pre-quarterfinal results: Inamur Rehman (NWFP) bt M. Imtiaz Tipu (Punjab) 5-2: 21/69, 78/40, 66/34, 63/19, 54/11, 46/65, 48/33. Raees Khan (Punjab) bt Salman Shaikh (Sindh) 5-3: 43/55, 52/58, 76/16, 51/64, 54/31, 64/28, 68/20. Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Saqib Zia (Sindh) 5-2: 57/45, 51/67, 65/55, 59/38, 22/75, 68/33, 57/46. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) bt Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 5-1: 73/11, 120/0, 8/89, 68/42, 81/30, 73/29. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) 5-1: 43/69, 79/36, 74/15, 63/40, 86/28, 78/48. Shehram Changezi (Punjab) bt Minhas Malik (Sindh) 5-3: 8/59, 39/55, 60/14, 70/65, 33/55, 60/48, 88/32, 75/17. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 5-0: 58/27, 78/21, 56/29, 83/8, 61/45. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) 5-2: 57/67, 65/16, 18/69, 62/55, 56/49, 61/21, 72/26.