Sindh cueists remain absent on opening day as National U21 Snooker begins

KARACHI:  The Sindh cueists did not enter the arena on the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance 9th National Under-21 Snooker Championship 2017 which commenced at the PSB Complex in Islamabad on Saturday.

According to the results made available by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA), Mohammad Farid, Ali Zaman Khan, Ahmer Ali, Muzammil Khan, Mohammad Salik, Hamza Ikram, Syed Jawwad Shah and Shaharyar Khan, belonging to Sindh, conceded walkovers to their respective rivals.

When contacted, the PBSA President, Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, informed ‘The News’ that he had approached by the Sindh cueists for changing their rooms and they were facilitated right away.

“Some boys had complained about problems in heating systems of their room and through the courtesy of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) they were accommodated in other rooms having better facilities. Once this problem was sorted out we never expected the Sindh boys not to turn up to play their matches on the first day of the tournament,” the PBSA President stated.

“We have a feeling that the boys are being misguided by the persons with vested interests. At our end we will try our level best to help out the cueists and urge them not to become a tool in politicking of others,” Munawwar Shaikh added.

A total of 32 cueists from all over the country, divided equally in eight groups for the preliminary rounds, have entered the tournament and it includes eight participants from Sindh.

Umar Farooq of Punjab created the first upset of the tournament by routing third seed Mohammad Haris of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in straight frames but fourth seed Mohammad Subhan of Balochistan showed resilience while overcoming unseeded Mohammad Shahbaz of Punjab after a five-set marathon.

Raees Ali Usama of Punjab registered the highest break of the first of the first day, making one of 63 in the second frame while beating Talha Nawaz of KPK 3-1.

Results: Umar Farooq (Pjb) bt Mohammad Haris (KPK) 3-0 (69-13, 59-47, 61-47); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Mohammad Farid (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Mohammad Azam (KPK) bt Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Mohammad Subhan (Bal) bt Mohammad Shahbaz (Pjb) 3-2 (66-38, 43-57, 63-12, 34-65, 61-52); Sohaib Usman (Isb) bt Mohammad Salik (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Shaikh Ahmed (KPK) bt Hamza Ikram (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Usman Ahmed (Pjb) bt Syed Jawad Shah (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) bt Talal Nawaz (KPK) 3-1 (46-48, 98-1, 77-34, 44-35); Mohammad Rafiq (KPK) bt Hiskail Bilal (Bal) 3-0 (52-44, 65-30, 63-1); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Muhammad Arif (Bal) 3-0 (63-20, 56-38, 78-28); Mohammad Aftab (Bal) bt Ahmer Ali (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) bt Muzammil Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover); Saud Khan (Pjb) bt Junaid Akhjtar (KPK) 3-0 (52-41, 50-12, 47-32); Mohammad Moez Riaz (Pjb) bt Zakir Hussain (Bal) 3-0 (52-5, 66-62, 48-10); Usman Khurshid (KPK) bt Mohammad Mehmood (Isb) 3-1 (46-39, 60-38, 25-57, 63-62); Rabish Perwaiz (Bal) bt Shaharyar Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (walkover).