KARACHI: Six more players advanced to the pre-quarterfinals as one week of action is completed in the 49th National Snooker Championship here at the NBP Sports Complex on Monday.
Punjab dominated the day’s proceedings as five of its cueists — Awaisullah Munair, Waseem Abbas, Naseem Akhtar, Babar Masih and Mohammad Shabaz — advanced to the pre-quarterfinals.
They were joined by Sindh’s Ian Mark John, who advanced despite suffering a surprise 4-3 loss to Faisal Daniyal of Islamabad.
Babar, meanwhile, confirmed his last-16 berth following a convincing 4-0 win over Asadullah and Shahbaz outlasted youngster Mohammad Hasnain 4-2 to cruise into the next round.
Waseem bounced back from a slow start to beat Sirbuland Khan 4-2 and secure qualification in the pre-quarters.
Abdullah, Umair Khan and Ahsan Javaid emerged victorious in one of the closest matches the day as the trio won 4-3 against Jahanzaib Jahangir, Shahid Saleem and Ali Dara, respectively.
Meanwhile, in contrast, Umair Alam and Khizar Aziz — both from Sindh — comfortably won their fixtures 4-0 against M. Muzammil and Ayaan Ali, respectively.
High-flying Mohammad Asif — who already progressed into the last-16 — kept his perfect run intact as he crushed KP’s Sharjeel Mehmood 4-0. Asif’s department-mate Mohammad Sajjad also won his match against Balochistan’s Bahadur Khan 4-1.
In Monday’s other matches, Mohammad Nazeer defeated Malik Muzammil 4-1, Ali Raza downed Zubair Tahir 4-1 and Ibrahim Khan got the better of Shahid Shafique 4-2.
Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025