KARACHI: Title aspirant and top seed Hamza Akbar of Punjab blanked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tasawar-ul-Haq straight on the opening day of sixth national junior under-21 snooker championship which commenced at Movenpick hotel arcade on Saturday.

Reigning national champion and top seed Hamza who has won the junior Punjab Cup qualifier at Lahore recently, displayed true acumen while routing his opponent 57-9, 68-13, 76-16 which include an elegant break of 73 in the third frame.

In the opening session, defending champion Mohsin Amin of Punjab overcome early hiccups to cruise to an emphatic 3-1 victory over Asher Arshad of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was home 35-64, 73-11, 57-10, 49-35.

Mohammad Majid Ali, who finished runner-up in the last year’s Asian junior event at Indore and look destined to win the glory, removed junior Sindh champion Haris Nadeem straight. The scores were 50-34, 60-47, 70-64.

Results:

Noman Iqbal (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Zubair (Sindh) 3-0 (72-38, 72-60, 61-28); Mohsin Amin (Punjab) bt Asher Arshad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (35-64, 73-11, 57-10, 49-35); Hunain Amir (Punjab) bt Fahad Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (46-69, 89-8, 51-25, 76-19); Hamza Akber (Punjab) bt Tasawar-ul-Haq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (57-9, 68-13, 76-16); Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 3-0 (50-34, 60-47, 70-64); Mohammad Raheem (Punjab) bt Jahanzaib (Balochistan) 3-0 (53-14, 71-5, 62-10); Saifullah (Punjab) bt Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-1 (61-32, 50-53, 65-7, 83-4); Mohammad Ibrahim (Balochistan) bt Usman Khan 3-2 (9-68, 52-42, 47-73, 59-29, 67-24); Mohammad Sajawal (Punjab) bt Azam Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 3-0 (72-16, 64-16, 74-26); Amir Tariq (Punjab) bt Shriq Ali (Sindh) 3-0 (76-4, 74-14, 82-10); Mohammad Adil (Sindh) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 3-2 (0-82, 56-46, 72-33, 6-60, 54-16); Mohammad Kashif (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Rabi-ul-Hasan (Balochistan) 3-1 (54-29, 42-63, 63-15, 83-14); Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) bt Bilal Farooq (Sindh) 3-0 (65-23, 112-0, 62-22); Junaid Babar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Mohammad Sumair (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover). Sunday’s fixtures:

At 10.00am: Noman Iqbal (Islamabad) v Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohsin Amin (Punjab) v Mohammad Ibrahim (Balochistan), Mohammad Fahad Khan (Sindh) v Mohammad Azam Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shehryar Jaffer (Balochistan) v Amir Tariq (Punjab).

At 11.30am: Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Mohammad Adil (Sindh), M. Haris Nadeem (Sindh) v Rabi-ul-Hasan (Balochistan), Mohammad Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Bilal Farooq (Sindh), Jehanzaib (Balochistan) v Mohammad Sumair (Sindh).

At 1.00pm: Saifullah (Punjab) v Mohammad Zubair (Sindh), Mohammad Usman Khan (Sindh) v Ashar Arshad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Sajawal (Punjab) v Hunain Amir (Punjab).

At 2.30pm: Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) v Mohammad Tasawar-ul-Haq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Kashif (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Junaid Babar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Raheem (Punjab).