Seeded players excel in NBP Snooker

Syed Khalid Mahmood

KARACHI: For the first time in three days, all the eight seeded cueists overpowered their opponents in respective preliminary round matches of 10th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2018 here at the NBP Sports Complex on Tuesday.

Top seeded Muhammad Asif, a former world champion, stole the limelight by chalking up a superb break of 138 against Rashid Mahmood Abbasi which surpassed Sharjeel Mahmood’s highest break of 131 registered a day earlier.

Third seed Babar Masih also fired a century break, one of 109, as he blanked Muhammad Ijaz in straight frames. Second seed Muhammad Bilal was made to work harder for his 4-2 victory over the vastly experienced Khurram Hussain Agha, a former Asian number three.

Fourth seed Muhammad Majid Ali didn’t encounter much problems in taming Aamir Sohail 4-1, compiling breaks of 56 and 60 in 3rd and 5th frames respectively.

Fifth seed Muhammad Ahsan Javaid finally opened his account in the competition. After having lost both his earlier matches, he succeeded in defeating Muhammad Imran 4-2. Sixth seed Sultan Muhammad quite comfortably saw off the enigmatic Rambail Gul, who has had the reputation of performing giant-killing acts rather regularly.

Seventh seed Ali Haider finally came into his elements in his third outing. After having succumbed to defeats at the hands of unseeded rivals on the first couple of days, he recaptured his form to blast Mubashir Raza 4-1, constructing impressive breaks of 69 and 56 in the first and the last frames respectively.

Eighth seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir was once again in firm control while outwitting the dangerous Farhan Noor 4-2. He displayed his growing stature while building a fantastic of 94 in the second frame. Among the prominent unseeded cueists, Asjad Iqbal, Muhammad Naseem Akhtar, Sharjeel Mahmood, Sohail Shahzad and Shahid Aftab registered victories to stay afloat in the championship being contested by 40 cueists, having been divided equally in eight groups for the preliminary rounds.

Results: Sirbuland Khan (KP) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (73-18, 41-81, 83-1, 14-56, 68-37, 87-33); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Shaikh Mudassir (Pjb) 4-2 (71-57, 31-66, 54-41, 34-86, 75-32, 77-8); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-1 (26-88, 94-25, 71-43, 62-39, 64-12); Qadeer Abbas (Pjb) bt Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) 4-1 (76-44, 40-68, 66-56, 88-22, 68-33); Aakash Rafique (KP) bt Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-2 (31-77, 67-44, 67-41, 48-81, 71-35, 67-60); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Abdullah (KP) 4-3 (57-66, 52-56, 13-60, 61-26, 67-25, 78-28, 85-10); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Abdul Javaid (Pjb) 4-0 (69-50, 73-32, 81-43, 71-34); Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-2 (68-47, 20-97, 53-46, 62-33, 23-66, 71-40); Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Rashid Mahmood Abbasi (Isb) 4-0 (70-16, 65-64, 96-33, 138-4); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) 4-2 (65-40, 60-48, 66-85, 0-95, 54-18, 61-21); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) 4-0 (82-30, 60-41, 109-0, 61-18); Muhammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Aamir Sohail (KPK) 4-1 (75-22, 38-73, 69-9, 54-34, 74-8); Muhammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Muhammad Imran (KPK) 4-2 (45-42, 57-43, 53-57, 64-59, 18-50, 47-38); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Rambail Gul (KP) 4-1 (91-1, 61-66, 67-27, 84-24, 54-52); Ali Haider (Pjb) bt Mubashir Raza (Pjb) 4-1 (70-23, 67-52, 68-34, 0-71, 56-7); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Farhan Noor (Pjb) 4-2 (58-16, 94-1, 54-66, 67-35, 0-82, 51-45); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Aamir Sohail (KP) 4-2 (58-60, 32-83, 75-44, 64-33, 61-33, 59-13).