KARACHI, July 27: Raja Rasheed and Abu Saim, both from Punjab, were the toast of the snooker fans, when they registered upset victories in the 12th Red & White Cup played on Sunday at the Snooker Area Club in Gizri.

Rasheed handed out a 4-2 defeat to the former World and Asian snooker champion Mohammad Yousuf, ranked third in this tournament and Abu Saim who upset Arifullah the previous evening, accounted for eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti by a 4-1 margin, to perch himself on top in Group H.

Taking the first and third frames with effortless ease to move into a 2-1 winning advantage, Raja seemed a bit unruffled when Yousuf equalised 2-2, after pinching the fourth frame.

Trying desperately hard not to let the initiative slip through his fingers, Raja fought a neck and neck battle with his seasoned opponent and was rather lucky to grab the frame on the last black ball. In front once again, Raja was now in full throttle and potting practically everything in sight, pocketed the sixth frame also 56/33 to emerge a 4-2 winner.

Abu on the other hand, oozing with confidence after beating Arifullah 4-1 the previous evening, continued on the same confident vein running up a 3-0 lead against the eighth seed. Shakeel however, managed to save some blushes by winning the fourth frame cutting down the winning deficit 1-3, but Abu once again in top gear won the match by a hard fought out fifth frame 75/58.

Seventh seed Farhan Mirza upset by Kashif Khan on Friday after squandering a 3-0 lead, began his campaign against Mohammad Arif with a handsome break of 88, beating the previous highest of 85 chalked up by Shadab Baig on the first day.

Then racing through the next two frames Farhan was 3-0 in front before he dropped the fourth. But avoiding Friday’s drastic mistake, Farhan took the fifth frame with ease to go through a 4-1 winner.

Top seed Khurram Hussain Agha kept on his winning spree by ending the pretensions of Mustafa Haider 4-1, while second seed and defending champion Saleh Mohammad also kept his plate clean by registering a 4-1 victory over Faisal Essa.

Fourth seed Naveen Perwani after his shock 4-3 defeat to Mohammad Akhlas on the opening day, had another difficult afternoon against Ahmer Sheikh before squeezing through a 4-3 winner. Naveen’s cousin Amit however, took over the lead in Pool D, by sending Mohammad Akhlas crashing to a 4-1 defeat.

Fifth seed Atiq Latif Bux had to struggle hard, before being fortunate enough to emerge a 4-3 winner over Punjab’s Imran Mughal. In a see-saw tussle the scores were tied 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, before Latif slipped through 64/53 in the final frame.

Left-hander Vishan Gir handed out a 4-0 defeat to Kashif Khan, Farhan Mirza’s conqueror to book a top spot berth in Group G, while Mohammad Nazir, helped on with a splendid break of 74, sent Shahdab Baig crashing out 4-2 to is second consecutive defeat.

Also losing his second match on the trot was NWFP’s Arifullah, beaten by Punjab’s Raees Khan 4-1. In a minor upset Punjab’s Saqib Butt whipped NWFP’s Shah Khan 4-1, while NWFP’s dangerman Rambel Gul moved ahead with his second straight win, beating Balochistan’s Janan Khan 4-1.

In two matches that went the distance, Sindh’s Masood Ahmed beat Punjab’s Faiq Malik 4-3 and Sindh’s Minhas Malik got the better of Sindh veteran Yousuf Khan haroon by the same margin.

Following are the results of the qualifying rounds on the second day:

Naveen Perwani (Sindh) beat Ahmer Sheikh (Sindh) 4-3: 59/52, 72/32, 68/39, 42/66, 24/66, 49/63,,60/14. Amit Parwani (Sindh) beat Mohammad Akhlas (Sindh) 4-1: 28/59, 61/37, 73/37, 53/29, 65/30. Abu Saim (Punjab) beat Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 4-1: 83/2, 67/47, 51/46, 27/68, 75/58. Mohammad Nazir (Punjab) beat Shahtab Baig (Sindh) 4-2: 3/70, 57/70, 92/14, 72/61, 71/8, 63/27. Raja Rasheed (Punjab) beat Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) 4-2: 70/30, 6/71, 68/43, 44/57, 60/56, 56/33. Saqib Butt (Punjab) beat Shah Khan (NWFP) 67/16, 39/52, 58/35, 73/44, 57/45. Farhan Mirza (Punjab) beat Mohammad Asif (Punjab) 4-1: 88/0, 65/17, 78/19, 5/76, 63/25. Rambel Gul (NWFP) beat Janan Khan (Balochistan) 4-1: 40/55, 60/24, 62/32, 65/3, 58/16. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Faisal Essa (Sindh) 4-1: 63/71, 80/19, 65/52, 64/41, 70/31. Raees Khan (Punjab) beat Arifullah (NWFP) 4-1: 51/17, 59/52, 59/29, 41/60, 58/27. Vishan Gir (Sindh) beat Kashif Khan (Sindh) 4-0: 66/20, 79/63, 62/46, 53/45. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) beat Mustafa Haider (Balochistan) 4-1: 70/9, 71/3, 54/41, 32/59, 58/57. Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh) beat Imran Mughal 4-3: 53/60, 57/46, 60/16, 57/63, 13/68, 74/36, 64/53. Masood Ahmed (Sindh) beat Faiq Malik (Punjab) 4-3: 63/59, 64/37, 1/55, 55/9, 19/61, 19/65, 64/37. Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) 4-3: 84/62, 55/57, 58/48, 45/61, ,57/52, 50/55, 44/33. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) w/o Noman Awan (NWFP).