Rahim blanks Junaid as under-21 snooker begins

KARACHI: The provincial champions of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were outgunned on the opening day of league matches in the seventh edition of the National Junior Under-21 Snooker championship 2015 which cued off here at the Movenpick Hotel on Monday.
Mohammad Saqib of Punjab blew the whistle on Sindh Cup champion Ali Zaman Khan, Sindh’s Gawish Khan meted out similar treatment to Ahsan Wakeel, the KP Cup champion, while Haris Tahir of Punjab overwhelmed Taimoor Aftab, the Balochistan Cup champion.
Abdul Rahim, the Punjab Cup champion, who has been top seeded for the event, managed to get off to a winning start as he downed Junaid Ali of Sindh in straight frames.
Nauman Iqbal of Islamabad earned the honour of chalking up the first half-century break of the tournament as he made one of 70, while overpowering Sameer Khan of Sindh.
The Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) revised the draws in light of the last-minute withdrawals. The tournament is now being contested by 29 cueists even after the induction of a couple of local boys.
The cueists have been divided into eight groups.
According to the revised draws, the Group A comprises Abdul Rahim (Punjab), Khushi Mohammad (Balochistan) and Junaid Ali (Sindh), while Group B contains Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh), Hazratullah (KPK) and Mohammad Saqib (Punjab).
The trio of Ahsan Wakeel (KPK), Mohammad Afzal (Punjab) and Gawish constitute Group C.
Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad), (Aamir Tariq (Punjab), Sameer Khan (Sindh) and Usman Khan (Sindh) feature in Group D.
Group E is composed of Taimoor Aftab (Balochistan), Sameer-ul-Hassan (Sindh), Haris Tahir (Punjab) and Mohammad Bilal (Sindh).
Group F has the presence of Mohammad Kashif (KPK), Mohammad Ibrahim (Balochistan), Tanvir Baloch (Sindh) and Adil Zafar (Punjab).
Mohammad Fahim (Punjab), Mohammad Hassan Anwar (Islamabad), Mohammad Azam (KPK) and Sanaullah Sattar (Sindh) have been drawn in Group G.
Fahad Khan (Sindh), Mohammad Adil (Balochistan), Junaid Babar (KPK) and Mohammad Ali (Punjab) are included in Group H.
Results:
Abdul Rahim (Pjb) bt Junaid Ali (Sindh) 3-0 (68-28, 60-29, 67-42); Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) bt Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (75-15, 63-23, 101-0); Gawish Khan (Sindh) bt Ahsan Wakeel (KPK) 3-0 (50-16, 71-23, 85-40); Mohammad Nouman Iqbal (Isb) bt Sameer Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (58-60, 84-0, 67-56, 61-21); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Taimoor Aftab (Bal) 3-0 (68-18, 72-45, 61-34); Tanvir Baloch (Sindh) bt Mohammad Kashif 3-2 (69-14, 20-64, 24-53, 69-25, 55-52); Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) bt Mohammad Azam (Bal) 3-0 (76-20, 80-12, 75-15); Fahad Khan (Sindh) bt Junaid Babar (KPK) 3-0 (78-0, 58-32, 58-5); Aamir Tariq (Pjb) bt Usman Khan (Sindh) 3-2 (65-38, 43-65, 37-69, 80-7, 53-17); Mohammad Bilal (Sindh) bt Sameer-ul-Hassan (Sindh) 3-1 (9-78, 66-45, 68-61, 53-25); Mohammad Ibrahim (Bal) bt Adil Zafar (Pjb) 3-1 (75-47, 53-19, 36-86, 66-56); Mohammad Hassan Anwar (Isb) bt Sanaullah Sattar (Sindh) 3-2 (70-18, 20-72, 42-49, 92-28, 73-53); Mohammad Adil (Bal) bt Mohammad Ali (Pjb) 3-0 (66-39, 66-41, 12-60, 60-44).