Shahram pips Bilal in National Snooker Championship

KARACHI: Seventh seed Shahram Changezi dethroned top seed Mohammad Bilal,  edging him out in a pulsating pre-quarter-final of the Jubilee Insurance 42nd National Snooker Championship 2017 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

Second seed Babar Masih and third seed Mohammad Asif also crashed in the pre-quarter finals at the hands of Nadir Miran and Khurram Hussain Agha, respectively.

Fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad, fifth seed Sohail Shahzad and eighth seed Asjad Iqbal, however, stormed into the quarter-finals as they prevailed over Mubashir Raza, Abdul Sattar and Imran Shahzad, respectively. The unseeded duo of Shahid Aftab and Mohammad Ahsan Javaid also forced their way into the last-eight as they toppled Mohammad Ishtiaq and Mohammad Ijaz, respectively.

All the four quarter-finals, due to start at 10 am, will be played simultaneously on Sunday (today). Shahram Changezi (Islamabad) will lock horns with Khurram Agha (Sindh), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) will combat Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) will take on Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) and Shahid Aftab (Punjab) will meet Nadir Miran (Punjab).

The pre-quarter-finals followed a mix pattern as three of the eight matches went to the full distance of nine frames while there were comfortable 5-1 victories in as many as four games.

The epic nine-frame battle between the top seed Mohammad Bilal, who was also the defending champion, and seventh seed Shahram Changezi was the highlight of the day. Neither of the two combatants was prepared to lose as the contest went to the wire.

Shahram Changezi, having shown great resilience in the earlier part of the tournament as well, extended his brilliant form in the knockout phase and he was able to oust the holder, who had remained undefeated in the preliminary rounds.

The master craftsman from Islamabad, having fired breaks of 54 and 91 in successive frames, succeeded in taming the defending champion 5-4 with the scores of 39-92, 60-39, 99-0, 57-41, 46-87, 59-48, 14-68, 33-61, 59-56.

In yet another dramatic encounter, the unseeded Nadir Miran recorded the biggest victory of his career by overcoming second seed Babar Masih 5-4 with the frame scores of 18-47, 52-45, 13-91, 23-61, 92-28, 15-70, 42-4, 59-50, 72-47.

The vastly-experienced Khurram Agha, who had remained Pakistan’s number one cueist for the better part of the last decade, turned back the clock by overpowering third seed Mohammad Asif, the 2012 world champion, 5-1 with the frame scores of 4-74, 47-12, 95-8, 104-3, 59-40, 71-45. He reproduced his top form of yesteryears while chalking up breaks of 79 and 78 in successive frames.

Fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad faced no problems whatsoever in blasting unseeded Mubashir Raza 5-1 with the frame scores of 26-85, 95-0, 70-47, 76-1, 67-36, 60-14 and fifth seed Sohail Shahzad meted out similar treatment to his unseeded opponent Abdul Sattar with the scores being 56-61, 55-45, 112-6, 77-8, 108-2, 69-37.

Eighth seed Asjad Iqbal was given a run for his money by veteran Imran Shahzad and the youngster had to bring all his reserved energy into play to win the tensely-fought duel 5-4 with the scores of 37-79, 62-48, 48-56, 57-31, 59-52, 47-68, 76-22, 58-70, 68-53.

Ahsan Javaid, one of the wild card entries in the competition, continued his march towards glory by hammering Mohammad Ijaz 5-2 with the scores of 63-30, 37-79, 50-62, 91-1, 98-04, 61-35, 78-18 while Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, whipped Mohammad Ishtaiq, a former Sindh champion, 5-1 with the frame scores of 44-68, 67-31, 79-11, 100-08, 68-12, 77-26.