KARACHI: Sharjeel Mehmood of Khyber Pakhtun­khwa hogged the limelight with a magnificent break of 131 while routing Punjab’s Farhan Noor in a fully stretched encounter as three seeded players suffered shock defeats in the 10th National Bank of Pakistan ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex on Monday.

Sharjeel’s break came in the second frame as he won the duel 17-72, 131-12, 58-32, 53-35, 15-60, 31-69, 80-7. The match was of less importance as Sharjeel is ranked 33rd while Farhan is ranked 17th.

It is pertinent to mention that Sharjeel had lost his opening match to Sindh’s Zulfiqar A. Qadir on Sunday.

Though Abdul Javaid also pulled off a break of 100 in the second frame but went down 1-4 to Mubashir Raza. The latter romped home 55-47, 8-131, 63-42,107-2, 68-49.

Former national champion Mohammad Asif Toba, Asian junior under-21 runner-up Haris Tahir and Mohammad Faizan created quite a stir by upsetting seeded cueists.

Toba stretched his winning run while demolishing former national championship runner-up and the sixth seed Sultan Mohammad 4-1 (63-12, 54-41, 46-85, 75-18, 53-16).

Haris, who had a dismal start losing to holder Asjad Iqbal the other day, sent seventh seed Ali Haider packing 4-2 (31-75, 70-49, 38-62, 85-0, 48-36, 62-0) to open his account.

Faizan overcome fifth seed Mohammad Ahsan Javaid 4-1 (67-37, 67-55, 89-0, 10-63, 56-6) to consolidate his position.

Results:

Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-1 (67-37, 67-55, 89-0, 10-63, 56-6); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad Sindh) 4-1 (63-12, 54-41, 46-85, 75-18, 53-16); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-2 (31-75, 70-49, 38-62, 85-0, 48-36, 62-0); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Usman Ahmad (Punjab) 4-2 (1-0 (frame awarded to Zulfiqar), 33-67, 54-18, 66-30, 42-65, 70-24); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-1 (92-8, 68-30, 83-4, 28-72, 79-9); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-2 (28-76, 68-16, 70-11, 39-59, 66-58, 61-54); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Umar (Punjab) 4-0 (84-39, 80-5, 67-41, 89-3); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) 4-3 (10-63, 41-54, 76-17, 82-8, 18-66, 67-35, 48-13); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (71-8, 81-23, 61-1, 68-48); Abdullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (88-1, 70-42, 63-29, 67-26); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Abdul Javaid (Punjab) 4-1 (55-47, 8-131, 63-42, 107-2, 68-49); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-3 (17-72, 131-12, 58-32, 53-35, 15-60, 31-69, 80-7); Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad) 4-1 (52-14, 56-26, 52-36, 67-74, 62-20); Khurram H. Agha (Sindh) bt Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab) 4-2 (86-2, 64-59, 74-44, 38-74, 29-75, 72-7); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Imran Shehzad (Punjab) 4-2 (65-52, 58-46, 82-7, 8-85, 5-76, 70-35).

Tuesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Agha Bilawal (Sindh) v Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Imran Shehzad (Punjab); Qadeer Abbas (Punjab) v Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

At 12noon: Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Umair Alam (Sindh); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) v Abdullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Abdul Javaid (Punjab); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 2pm: Mohammad Asif (Puunjab) v Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Khurram H. Agha (Sindh); Babar Masih (Punjab) v Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 4pm: Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) v Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); Ali Haider (Punjab) v Mubashir Raza (Punjab); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) v Farhan Noor (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, August 07th, 2018