KARACHI: Seeded trio Babar Masih, Zulfiqar A. Qadir and Mohammad Bilal sneaked into the knockout round of the 44th National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

As many as 16 spots are up for grabs – top two places from eight groups apiece for the pre quarter-finals– as league matches end on Tuesday.

Top seed Babar removed Balochistan’s Rabish Pervez straight 82-32, 75-0, 62-55, 77-0 to post a fifth straight victory in Group ‘A’. He is drawn to meet Mohammad Mudassir in the last fixture on Tuesday.

With four wins already under his belt, local player Zulfiqar stretched his unbeaten run by getting the better of Amir Tariq 4-2 with the scores being 62-20, 34-59, 65-2, 8-71, 59-57, 67-40.

He is drawn to play the last match against incumbent national U-18 champion Shaikh M. Mudassir on Tuesday.

Former national champion and fifth seed Bilal outplayed low-profile Abdul Raziq of Balochistan straight to live up to his reputation. He was home 71-0, 81-16, 80-24, 60-43. He completes his league engagements when he meets reigning national U-21 champion Ali Haider on Tuesday.

Seventh seed and former national champion Shahid Aftab who has also maintained an unbeaten run in five outings, may join the above trio but the picture of group G will become clear on completion of league.

Two other cueists Mohammad Ijaz and Abdul Sattar, who are drawn alongside Shahid, have won three matches out of four apiece and may pose challenge to the seeded player. Shahid is pitted against Ijaz on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, unseeded Sultan Mohammad pulled off the only upset of the day when he sent third seed Mohammad Majid Ali packing in fully stretched seven frames duel.

After a see-saw he won the match 15-104, 69-13, 50-41, 1-63, 71-19, 1-86, 61-37.

Shaikh M. Mudassir also hogged limelight by cracking an elegant break of 128 in the last frame against Bahadur Khan while returning 94-37, 76-47, 60-19, 128-8 victorious.

Results:

Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) 4-3 (15-104, 69-13, 50-41, 1-63, 71-19, 1-86, 61-37); Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Abdul Jalil (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (56-19, 55-25, 44-54, 32-62, 73-11, 61-53); Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-1 (21-65, 68-42, 46-9, 74-16, 60-28); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-2 (62-20, 34-59, 65-2, 8-71, 59-57, 67-40); Shaikh M. Mudssir (Punjab) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (94-37, 76-47, 60-19, 128-8); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad) 4-2 (57-46, 74-13, 36-69, 53-34, 50-57, 90-46); Mohammad Asif (Punjab) bt Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (118-14, 125-1, 80-28, 93-1); M. Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) bt M. Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) 4-2 (12-71, 62-43, 73-6, 77-31, 41-47, 62-14); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-3 (69-30, 41-80, 45-51, 69-24, 24-103, 81-38, 63-31); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Rabish Pervez (Balochistan) 4-0 (82-32, 75-0, 62-55, 77-0); Mohammad Mudassir (Islamabad) bt Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) 4-2 (81-65, 38-66, 3-53, 59-40, 76-45, 75-65); Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) bt Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (66-24, 43-64, 64-21, 66-16, 22-64, 76-47); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-2 (41-57, 60-46, 72-29, 76-47, 40-66, 71-0); Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (70-45, 70-60, 67-54, 60-55); Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad) bt Abdul Hameed (Balochistan) 4-0 (95-11, 71-18, 58-7, 54-37); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (53-54, 41-60, 99-7, 64-2, 67-8, 38-71, 61-32); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Ameer Hamza Khan (Islamabad) 4-3 (68-2, 29-47, 34-55, 60-52, 0-70, 75-67, 65-45); Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-3 (29-51, 61-57, 6-69, 79-20, 37-61, 64-54, 88-1); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Saeed Khan (Balochistan) 4-0 (71-12, 60-50, 59-7, 43-12); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Abdul Majid (Sindh) 4-3 (18-75, 59-34, 25-65, 6-74, 55-53, 63-3, 55-31); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) 4-0 (71-0, 81-16, 80-24, 60-43).

Saturday’s remaining results:

Ali Haider (Punjab) bt Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) 4-3 (49-57, 57-41, 31-56, 54-61, 71-9, 78-25, 69-35); Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-2 (75-15, 56-26, 53-59, 30-58, 68-41, 43-34); Abu Saim (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (6-83, 14-63, 29-59, 73-14, 64-48, 66-18, 73-15); Amir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Abdul Hameed (Balochistan) 4-2 (86-35, 44-57, 54-59, 76-70, 70-31, 58-29); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-1 (56-59, 77-16, 88-0, 63-62, 66-38); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-3 (43-66, 36-86, 55-42, 53-51, 16-72, 78-7, 67-45); Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt S. Habib Shah (Balochistan) 4-0 (40-14, 56-46, 57-20, 60-33).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) vs Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) vs M. Imran Qamar (Punjab), Abdul Jalil (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs Ali Raza (Sindh), Shaikh M. Mudssir (Punjab) vs Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad), Amir Tariq (Punjab) vs Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) vs Imran Shehzad (Punjab).

At 12noon: M. Hamza Ilyas (Punjab) vs Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), vs Ahmed Shah (Balochistan), M. Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) vs Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Mohammad Mudassir (Islamabad) vs Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rabish Pervez (Balochistan) vs Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) vs Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

At 2pm: Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), vs Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad), Abu Saim (Punjab) vs Amir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) vs Abdul Hameed (Balochistan), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) vs Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) vs S. Habib Shah (Balochistan), Ameer Hamza Khan (Islamabad) vs Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa),.

At 4pm: Haris Tahir (Punjab) vs Abdul Majid (Sindh), Shafiullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) vs M. Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Saeed Khan (Balochistan) vs Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Ali Haider (Punjab) vs Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Abdul Raziq (Balochistan) vs Farukh Usman (Sindh), Mirza Waqas Baig (Punjab) vs Rashid Aziz (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2019