Prolific Sajjad cruises into last-16 at National Snooker
KARACHI: Former national champion and top seed Mohammad Sajjad conjured up third straight victory make the last-16 round from group ‘A’ in the 40th National Snooker Championship at hotel Movenpick here on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Sajjad, the current world amateur snooker championship losing finalist in Bangalore last year, chalked up an emphatic 4-1 victory over Mohammad Toufiq Jhori the scores being 73-31, 44-52, 65-33, 85-8, 67-37. Sajjad now meets former Pakistan No.1 Khurram Agha on Thursday to decide winner and runner-up of the group.
Meanwhile, three century breaks — 124 by national junior losing finalist Abdul Raheem, 104 by Abdul Sattar and 131 by Sultan Mohammad — highlighted the day’s matches. The first and second came up against Sindh’s unfancied Ian Mark John while the third against Uzair Aziz.
The last-16 will become clear afer the last day of the league on Thursday.
Results:
Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad) bt Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) 4-3 (59-58, 41-77, 75-47, 70-42, 41-75, 25-67, 59-28); Hunain Amir (Punjab) bt Amir Tariq (Punjab) 4-3 (78-30, 30-70, 77-28, 24-72, 51-45, 28-50, 67-50); Abdul Raheem (Punjab) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-1 (90-43, 43-50, 60-55, 62-13, 125-0); Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) bt Mohammad Faheem (Punjab) 4-0 (67-58, 60-32, 87-28, 85-0); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Gul Afzal (Islamabad) 4-3 (65-10, 101-35, 65-52, 32-76, 25-79, 36-63, 61-52); Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-2 (20-75, 75-28, 50-44, 65-42, 36-74, 68-37); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan) 4-1 (50-4, 68-29, 58-62, 61-20, 72-28); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (85-7, 0-94, 72-16, 62-17, 73-51); Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) bt Mohammad Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) 4-1 (73-31, 44-52, 65-33, 85-8, 67-37); Imran Shehzad (Punjab) bt Hunain Amir (Punjab) 4-2 (59-47, 21-51, 70-39, 60-63, 60-8, 96-34); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-2 (102-16, 25-98, 50-27, 80-11, 16-62, 105-9); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-1 (60-23, 98-1, 64-58, 0-70, 78-9); Saqib Butt (Punjab) bt Jahangir Bangulzai (Balochistan) (walkover); Mohammad Imran (Punjab) bt Shah Khan
(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-2 (42-69, 84-0, 57-10, 60-52, 34-71, 78-29); Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh) bt Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0
(56-26, 78-32, 92-1, 78-21); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-0 (57-60, 72-29, 64-7, 1-81, 23-86, 131-0, 66-25).
Thursday’s fixtures:
At 10:00am:
Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) v Mohammad Faheem (Punjab), Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Jahangir
Bulgulzai (Balochistan) v Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh), Mohammad
Imran (Punjab) v Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan), Zulfiqar A Qadir (Sindh) v Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
At 12:00noon:
Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) v Shahram Changezi (Islamabad),
Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
At 2:00pm:
Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Khurram Agha (Sindh), Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Abu Saim (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Aakash rafique
(Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Mohammad Bilal (Punjab).
Published in Dawn February 5th , 2015
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