KARACHI: Amir Shehzad of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa pulled off a stunning upset at the 49th National Snooker Championship, thrashing former world champion and eighth seed Ahsan Ramzan here at the NBP Sports Complex on Friday.
Amir humbled the 2021 World Amateur Champion Ahsan as he cruised to victory without dropping a single frame 97-21, 61-35, 66-53, 74-1.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Sajjad of NBP played the highest break of the tournament, scoring 139 against Mohammad Hasnain — who won the Asian U-21 title last year — of Sindh.
The 38-year-old Sajjad displayed his experience as he comfortably won the clash 4-1 [70-15, 53-51, 9-72, 67-48, 139(139)-0].
Sajjad won the first two frame before Hasnain halved the deficit. But Sajjad didn’t let the advantage slip as he clinched the fourth frame and wrapped the victory with a mammoth break of 139.
Defending champion Asjad Iqbal of NBP continued his winning streak, beating KP’s Umair Sodagar 4-1 [44-54, 65-07,75-17, 84-41, 45-23].
Sohail Shehzad of Sindh and Abdul Javed of Islamabad also impressed, playing century breaks of 103 and 100, respectively.
Last year’s finalist Awaisullah Munir also maintained his perfect run as he overwhelmed Balochistan’s S.M Muneeb Ali 4-0 [86-08, 95-10, 113(72)-9 68-20].
While the top players made headlines, several other cueists were engaged in intense battles that went down to the wire.
Ayaan Ali of Sindh edged Asad Ullah of Balochistan 4-3 in a gripping encounter while Jahanzaib Jahangir, hailing from Balochistan, defeated Islamabad’s Faisal Daniyal 4-3.
Similarly, Sohail won 4-3 against Balochistan’s Adil A. Jabbar of Balochistan on the back of a century-break in the fourth-frame.
There were some lop-sided results too as Punjab’s Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, Shahid Aftab, Mubashir Raza and KP’s Sirbuland Khan and Sharjeel Mehmood recorded 4-0 triumphs.
Naseem got the better of KP’s Suleman Khan, Shahid trounced Balcohistan cueist Zaib Khan, Mubashir hammered Shahid Shafique in an all-Punjab clash, Sirbuland defeated Islamabad’s M. Muzammil and Sharjeel overpowered Zubair Tahir
In other matches, Punjab’s Umair Haider defeated Umair Khan of Sindh 4-2, Shan Namat of Islamabad downed Punjab’s Mohammad Faheem 4-2 and Islamabad’s Ali Dara defeated Malik Muzammil of KP 4-1.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025