KARACHI: Four seeded cueists among the top eight crashed out on the last day of the 22nd Sindh Cup snooker league as 16 cruised into the knockout pre quarter-finals at a local parlour on Friday.
Those who failed to live up to their billing were top seed Umair Alam, fourth seed Uzair Aziz, fifth seed Vishan Gir and seventh seed Javed Ansari.
The four outsiders who were through to the knockout stage include Salman Shaikh, Kamran Razzak, Rizwan Hashmi and Zulfiqar A. Qadir.
Umair’s failure has also come as a disappointment for the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) as the games controlling body had sent the cueist to Thailand for one month to acquire coaching sometimes back.
Meanwhile, Sohail Shehzad, who has remained among the country’s top 10 ranking players, delighted by hammering a century break (113) against Farrukh Usman in the last frame while notching up an emphatic 78-21, 81-35, 65-31, 113-4 victory to stole limelight.
In fact, at 113, he missed a black that deprived him of mustering a big break.
League round:
Results:
Rizwan Hashmi bt Faisal Kashmiri 4-2 (71-72, 88-9, 66-38, 20-60, 65-47, 56-51); Khurram Masih bt Nadir Shah 4-3 (68-36, 9-54, 49-54, 26-49, 60-50, 83-18, 68-31); Aneel John bt Akber Shah 4-1 (79-42, 48-63, 67-8, 70-19, 74-49); Mohammad Afsar bt Mohammad Ayaz 4-0 (walkover); Salman Shaikh bt Mohammad Faizan 4-3 (18-73, 80-9, 56-46, 81-5, 35-60, 14-66, 66-24); Zeeshan Abbas bt Abdullah Noman 4-3 (53-57, 81-27, 60-30, 32-59, 61-16, 35-54, 55-36); Tariq Ameen bt Danish Haroon 4-0 (walkover); Kamran Razzak bt S. Meesam Zaidi 4-1 (73-50, 78-42, 51-75, 60-52, 72-8); Tahir Majeed bt Vishan Gir 4-0 (walkover); Agha Bilawal bt Khizar Aziz 4-3 (49-67, 74-11, 81-22, 63-15, 8-90, 45-65, 73-43); Javed Ansari bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir 4-2 (79-44, 66-26, 72-14, 14-64, 23-61, 62-59); Abdul Majid bt Mohammad Akmal 4-2 (32-67, 66-44, 56-38, 70-21, 2-60, 57-15); Umair Alam Khan v Fahim Siddiqui (both players didn’t show up); Mohammad Ishtaiq bt Haris Nadeem 4-1 (67-53, 105-0, 53-65, 52-29, 98-12); Sohail Shehzad bt Farrukh Usman 4-0 (78-21, 81-35, 65-31, 113-4); Uzair Aziz bt Minhas Malik 4-0 (55-7, 40-10, 36-7, 46-10).
Saturday’s fixtures:
Pre quarter-finals (best of nine frames)
At 11.00am: Sohail Shehzad v Haris Nadeem; Mohammad Faizan v Khizar Aziz; Rizwan Hashmi v S. Meesam Zaidi; Aneel John v Abdul Majid.
At 1.00pm: Mohammad Ishtaiq v Farrukh Usman; Mohammad Akmal v Salman Shaikh; Zulfiqar A. Qadir v Khurram Masih; Tahir Majeed v Kamran Razzak.
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