KARACHI: The NBP 49th National Snooker Championship witnessed a major upset on Wednesday as defending champion Asjad Iqbal was ousted from the tournament after losing against Mohammad Sajjad 5-3 here at the NBP Sports Complex.

With the victory Sajjad booked an all-Punjab quarter-final clash against Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, who registered a narrow 5-4 win over Sindh’s cueist Zulfiqar A. Qadir in their last-16 match.

In Wednesday’s other matches, Mohammad Asif — Pakistan’s most successful cueist — survived a scare against Mubashir Raza to progress into quarters, where he will be up against Ian Mark John, who edged past Babar Masih 5-4.

Last-year finalist, Awaisullah Munir kept his perfect run intact as he recorded a thumping 5-1 win over Sharjeel Mehmood to book a last-eight date with Abdul Sattar of Sindh. Sattar won a pre-quarter thriller against province-mate Abdul A. Jabbar 5-4.

Shahid Aftab and Sohail Shehzad completed the quarter-final line-up following identical 5-2 wins over Waseem Abbas and Mohammad Shahbaz, respectively.

Asjad, who was seeking to retain his title, got off to a strong start, winning the first frame 25-61. However, Sajjad bounced back, taking the next two frames 65-39, 62-25. Asjad, though, struck back in emphatic fashion as he clinched the fourth frame with a break of 114.

But Sajjad halted the comeback immediately and wrapped up the victory as he bagged the next three frames 69-29, 78-11, 69-29.

In another exciting match, Asif — who won the World Amateur Championship last year — was stretched to the full distance by Mubashir.

Asif, undefeated in the tournament so far, took an early lead, winning the first frame 86-8, but Mubashir turned the tide in his favour after he won the next two frames 81-13, 80-21 to take the lead.

High-flying Asif kept the momentum on his side as he won the next three frames 56-47, 79-15, 70-1 to seemingly take a decisive advantage.

But Mubashir, undettered, staged a strong comeback as he struck back by winning two consecutive frames 66-46, 79-21 to level the match again. But Asif proved to be the better cueist as he clinched the deciding frame 71-30.

The 31-year-old Awaisullah, began the knockout phase with a convincing win over Sharjeel.

Awaisullah, who won the 6-red championship in Riyadh last year, dominated the match, winning the first four frames 66-45, 90-35, 61-13, 68-0. Sharjeel won the fifth frame 68-0, but Awaisullah closed out the match with a commanding 90-1 win in the sixth frame.

All the quarter-finals will be played on Thursday at the same venue.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2025

Opinion

Editorial

Ukraine initiative
Updated 21 Feb, 2025

Ukraine initiative

Whether Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative succeeds or not, it will be difficult for Kyiv, Europe to face Russian military machine without US support.
High cost of SOEs
21 Feb, 2025

High cost of SOEs

THERE are losses and then some. The finance ministry’s latest overview of the federally owned state enterprises...
Poor impression
21 Feb, 2025

Poor impression

RECENT developments in the Senate have provided cause for concern on how parliamentary business is being conducted....
Premature alarm
Updated 20 Feb, 2025

Premature alarm

Improvement in headline inflation gives policymakers chance to fix investment policies, implement structural reforms.
Forsaken province
20 Feb, 2025

Forsaken province

AND the endless cycle of violence continues. The brutal killing on Tuesday night of seven Punjab-bound passengers in...
In poor health
20 Feb, 2025

In poor health

THE absence of decent and affordable healthcare in the country continues to ruin lives. An example of this is ...