Shahid, Sharjeel stumble in National Snooker

KARACHI: Imran Shahzad displayed his pedigree by notching up a fantastic break of 125 on the seventh day of league matches in the 41st National Snooker Championship 2016 here on Sunday.

Rambail Gul and Mohammad Faheem also chalked up century breaks.

The seeded duo of Shahid Aftab and Sharjeel Mahmood, however, jeopardised their chances of entering the knockout stage of the championship as they lost to unseeded opponents.

The top five seeds, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Bilal, Shahram Changezi and Majid Ali, have virtually secured their slots in the last 16 with sixth seed Babar Masih also in the hunt with just one defeat in five outings.

Seventh seed Shahid Aftab, edged out by Sohail Shahzad, and eighth seed Sharjeel Mahmood, routed by Asjad Iqbal, may now find it difficult to reach the pre-quarter-finals as they have suffered two losses each in league matches.

Meanwhile the emerging youngsters, majority of them teenagers, continued to justify the decision of the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) to field them in the mainstream circuit.

Abdul Raheem, Haris Tahir, Mohammad Saqib and Mohammad Faheem defeated their senior opponents to stay afloat in the competition. The preliminary round of this 13-day event concludes on Tuesday (tomorrow).

The top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the knockout phase, starting with the pre-quarter-finals on Wednesday. The final and the prize distribution ceremony will be telecast live on Geo Super on Saturday.

Results: Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Aakash Rafique (KP) 4-3 (24-85, 34-73, 58-26, 76-37, 74-34, 44-65, 77-51); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-3 (118-1, 41-82, 19-68, 69-31, 53-41, 1-83, 46-42), Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) 4-1 (70-56, 71-61, 61-36, 6-83, 62-8); Abdul Raheem (Pjb) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (68-10, 85-35, 47-63, 93-56, 25-77, 84-27); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Abdul Javed (Pjb) 4-0 (59-20, 70-8, 70-1, 79-18); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Iftikhar Khan (Sindh) 4-3 (28-66, 49-78, 61-29, 1-66, 63-54, 66-39, 86-43); Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) bt Aamir Shahzad (KP) 4-1 (61-41, 63-25, 78-40, 40-67, 62-24); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Muzammil Khan (Sindh) 4-0 (125-16, 77-16, 88-8, 70-18); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Jawed (Pjb) 4-3 (32-92, 26-67, 69-31, 88-32, 105-0, 45-53, 60-36); Rambail Gul (KP) bt Raja Rashid (Isb) 4-0 (61-46, 62-43, 64-1, 116-24); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-0 (65-39, 78-47, 64-45, 99-7); Mohammad Afzal (Pjb) bt Farhan Khan (KP) 4-0 (67-31, 81-45, 71-22, 70-32); Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Abdul Rahman (Bal) 4-3 (84-6, 82-10, 43-46, 28-60, 9-74, 97-16, 66-48); Sarbuland Khan (KP) bt Ahmed Shah (Bal) 4-0 (64-53, 54-30, 66-18, 48-22); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Kashif Khan (Sindh) 4-2 (71-39, 66-71, 44-82, 62-8, 70-61, 60-39); Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) bt Asif Toba (Pjb) 4-1 (34-90, 70-21, 71-27, 69-18, 111-9); Javed Ansari (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Pjb) 4-1 (34-85, 83-22, 105-16, 86-20, 71-36); Mohammad Aqeel (KP) bt Fawad Khan (KP) 4-0 (62-41, 52-50, 68-7, 65-60).