Naseem, Haris in National U-21 Snooker quarters

Syed Khalid Mahmood

KARACHI: Holder Muhammad Naseem Akhtar and last year’s runner-up Haris Tahir, both of them from Punjab, walked leisurely into the quarterfinals of Jubilee Insurance 10th National Junior U-21 Snooker Championship 2018 whose pre-quarter-finals were contested at the PSB Billiards & Snooker Hall in Islamabad on Wednesday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), as many as seven cueists from Punjab have advanced into the quarter-finals with Ali Zaman Khan of Sindh being the sole qualifier from other four federating units.

A total of 34 cueists from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan and Islamabad, divided in eight groups, had entered qualifying rounds with the top two cueists from each group having made their way to the pre-quarter-finals.

Both the quarter-finals as well as the semifinals will be played on Thursday (today)) with the final due to be held on Friday (tomorrow). The quarter-finals are scheduled to start simultaneously at 10 am and they will be followed by the semifinals at 2 pm.

Eight players including and six other players qualified for the quarter finals of Jubilee Insurance 10thNational Junior U-21 Snooker Championship 2018 here at PSB Billiards & Snooker Hall, Islamabad on Wednesday.

The closest pre-quarter-final tie took place between the Punjab duo of Raees Ali Usama and Ahsan Ramzan which was decided at the black ball in the decisive seventh frame. The other highlights of the pre-quarters were the big breaks registered by Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (75) against Fahad Ghaffar of Islamabad, Ali Zaman Khan of Sindh (58) against Usman Khurshid (KPK) and Haris Tahir of Punjab (52) against Hamza Aftab (KPK).

Results: Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir (Pjb) bt Abdul Aziz (Bal) 4-2 (65-24, 49-28, 39-59, 57-31, 36-69, 76-15); Usman Ahmed (Pjb) bt Rabish Pervaiz (Bal) 4-2 (53-62, 67-40, 51-36, 53-40, 14-69, 66-50); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Umer Farooq (Pjb) 4-3 (39-52, 64-18, 57-47, 52-31, 29-62, 20-56, 60-41); Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) 4-3 (29-74, 22-65, 54-43, 23-70, 74-48, 64-16, 57-52); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) 4-1 (70-4, 75-8, 11-52, 63-43, 69-10); Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) bt Usman Khurshid (KPK) 4-0 (66-6, 56-8, 90-14, 50-0); Muhmmad Umar Khan (Pjb) bt Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) 4-1 (80-28, 63-25, 58-26, 50-80, 67-19); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Hamza Aftab (KPK) 4-0 (74-29, 74-25, 74-19, 74-7).