KARACHI: Former international and eighth seed Naveen Perwani ended his winless jinx when he shocked country’s top cueist Imran Shahzad 4-2 in the Del Monte fourth ranking snooker cup at Southend Club on Thursday.
The win, which came after four defeats, was of academic interest and will make no difference for him. Naveen recovered from 1-2 down to post 52-70, 72-62, 55-56, 79-55, 68-9, 73-52 victory over his opponent.
It is pertinent to mention that Sharjeel Mehmood had pulled of the first major upset registering 4-3 win over Imran in a fierce battle on Wednesday evening.
Sharjeel Mehmood, meanwhile, heads group A with five victories. He is followed by Imran Shahzad and Mohammad Imran who have won four matches and lost two apiece. The last match between Sharjeel Mehmood and Mohammad Javed was inprogress at the time of filing this report.
As far as group B is concerned, Mohammad Asif and Asjad Iqbal were tied with five wins apiece. They are followed by former Asian No 2 Mohammad Sajjad who had won four and lost two games.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s Mohammad Asif took his winning tally to five from six games to strengthen his passage to semi-finals.
Drawn in group B, the seventh seed Asif, tasted his first defeat of the event losing 2-4 to his namesake Mohammad Asif (Toba)in the morning but after sometime bounced back to register 4-1 win over Sultan Mohammad to lead group B.
Mohammad Asif is drawn to meet reigning national champion and fifth seed Shahid Aftab in his last fixture on Friday at 10am.
The league matches concludes on Friday with top two players from the group A and B making it to the last four.
Results:Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-1 (71-52, 13-63, 60-51, 59-4, 56-18); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) (walkover); M. Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 4-2 (63-55, 65-42, 24-91, 61-69, 69-14, 62-49); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Imran Shahzad (Punjab) 4-2 (52-70, 72-62, 55-56, 79-55, 68-9, 73-52); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Bilawal Agha (Sindh) 4-1 (26-79, 82-39, 66-61, 57-13, 59-52); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-0
(68-15, 53-36, 69-26, 73-23); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Mohammad Javed (Punjab) 4-2 (37-59, 69-34, 49-61, 79-72, 96-12, 54-44); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-1 (58-21, 69-13, 36-63, 69-8, 62-32); Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-0 (61-56, 66-22, 62-49, 71-1); M. Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Shahid Aftab (Punjab) 4-3 (99-9, 62-71, 84-5, 37-57, 52-77, 59-53, 58-13); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) (walkover); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-1 (57-7, 71-62, 32-63, 75-65, 58-29); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Bilawal Agha (Sindh) 4-1 (73-35, 67-19, 60-5, 1-73, 61-12); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-1 (60-32, 87-1, 69-7, 37-75, 59-31); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-1 (68-33, 66-41, 71-9, 7-77, 56-27).
Friday’s fixtures:Matches starts at 10am.