KARACHI, Jan 22: Fifth seed Imran Shahzad from Punjab, survived some anxious moments against his bearded opponent from the NWFP Shah Khan, before emerging a 4-3 winner in the 28th Red & White National Snooker Championship at the KPT Sports Complex on Wednesday.
Imran playing attacking snooker took a comfortable 2-0 lead, but his opponent settling down and potting almost everything in sight snapped up the next three frames spirited on with a splendid break of 77, to forge ahead 3-2.
Getting back into his strides Imran was leading 52/29 in the sixth and looked certain to draw abreast 3-3 with the six coloured balls on the table.
But it was Shah Khan who potted yellow, green, brown and blue. He had only to sink the pink with the black ball ideally placed to achieve victory. Shah did sink the pink, but received a severe jolt when he inoffed with his cue ball.
Let off the hook, Imran potted pink and black and levelled the frame scores 3-3. In the final frame it was Imran scoring with every visit to the table as Shah visibly upset, tried desperately hard to stem the tide. But it was to no avail, Imran won the final frame 70/4 and finally emerged a 4-3 winner.
Sixth seed Farhan Mirza began his campaign of defending his title in style, when he when he cruised past Nauman Awan 4-1, registering 82, the highest break of the day.
Top seed Khurram Agha also had the going easy with a 4-1 victory over Balochistan’s Zarfan, which included breaks of 45 and 37.
But the same could not be said about second Naveen Perwani, who had to bring out his best in overcoming another Balochistan cueist Janan Khan 4-3, in a close tussle which saw the scores levelled at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3.
Third seed Saleh Mohammad with fine breaks of 77 and 63, overwhelmed counterpart Yousuf Khan without dropping a frame. Fourth seed Mohammad Yousuf came through a 4-1 winner against Arshad Siddiq from NWFP.
However, the game was not so easy as the score suggests. Two of the four frames won by Yousuf was decided on the black ball, after his opponent snatched the opening frame.
Atiq Latif Bux, scion of the legendary late Latif Amir Bux, began his campaign in style by brushing aside the challenge of former Pakistan No. 2 Mohammad Shafiq 4-1, with swift breaks of 50 and 36.
Another promising cueist from Sindh burly Shakeel Bhatti, made his intentions felt by downing the dangerous Rambel Gul 4-2.
Twelveth seed Vishan Gir, who lost his opening match on Tuesday, bounced back to hand out a 4-1 drubbing to Farhan Noor. The same could be said about 10th seed Arifullah, a 4-1 winner over Punjab’s Saqib Butt. However, 11th seed Amit Parwani, suffered another defeat, when he went down 3-4 to Raja Rashid from Punjab, after missing an easy red ball in the centre pocket in the final frame. Also suffering a second defeat in two days was Balochistan’s Kamran Shah, losing 4-1 to Sindh’s Minhas Malik who chalked up his second win in a row.
M. Faiq Malik the bespectacled cueist from Punjab after his narrow 4-3 victory over counterpart Raees Khan on Tuesday, went a step better by ending the pretensions of Irfan R. Khan (Sindh) 4-1. This was Irfan’s first defeat, after romping home to victory 4-0, against Faroukh Osman on the opening day.
Following were the results on the second day.
Khurram Agha (Sindh) beat Zarfan (Balochistan) 4-1: 85/0, 85/25, 72/13, 43/57, 66/21. Naveen Parwani (Sindh) beat Janan Khan (Balochistan) 4-3: 57/51, 17/81, 72/47, 54/59, 75/6, 5/60, 65/17. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Yousuf Khan (NWFP) 4-0: 65/40, 102/9, 73/44, 62/14. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Arshad Siddiq (NWFP) 46/59, 51/47, 55/54, 67/18, 55/30. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Shah Khan (NWFP) 4-3: 52/29, 72/47, 43/61, 4/85, 29/49, 71/49, 70/4. Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Nauman Awan (NWFP) 4-1: 64/17, 82/4, 44/70, 71/19, 70/22. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Mohammad Shafiq (NWFP) 4-1: 76/46, 50/39, 64/16, 38/91, 50/45. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Rambel Gul (Punjab) 4-2: 79/18, 58/24, 37/72, 58/36, 48/70, 50/39. Vishan Gir (Sindh) beat Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-1: 74/1, 33/79, 67/35, 68/29, 62/18. Raja Rashid (Punjab) beat Amit Parwani 4-3: 35/71, 87/20, 5/55,63/51, 57/27, 10/67, 68/30. Arifullah (NWFP) beat Saqib Butt (Punjab) 4-1: 33/71, 57/45, 71/28, 54/44, 70/21. Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Kamran Shah (Balochistan) 68/28, 42/71, 74/36, 67/26, 60/28. M. Faiq Malik (Punjab) beat Irfan R. Khan 4-1: 54/42, 42/66, 81/14, 73/33, 54/53. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) w/o Younus Amir Bux (Sindh), Mirza Shahdab Baig (Sindh) w/o Ahmer Sheikh (Sindh), Faisal Essa (Sindh) w/o Fahad Asif (Punjab).