KARACHI: All the eight seeded cueists got off to a winning start in the Jubilee Insurance 2nd Ranking Snooker Championship 2016 which cued off here at Hotel Movenpick on Saturday.
Mohammad Bilal, Sohail Shahzad, Mohammad Asif, Babar Masih, Mohammad Sajjad, Shahram Changezi, Asjad Iqbal and Abdul Jawed prevailed over their rivals to start their campaign on a triumphant note.
Mohammad Bilal, having been crowned the new national champion a couple of months ago, celebrated his elevation to the top slot in rankings for the first time in his career, by toppling Bahadur Khan in straight frames. He fired breaks of 56 and 90 to demonstrate his prowess.
Second seed Sohail Shahzad, who ended as runner-up in the last edition of the National Championship, also recorded impressive breaks of 82, 63 and 64 during his 4-1 win over Mohammad Saqib.
Third seed Mohammad Asif, a former world champion, showcased his break-building talent by making ones of 80 and 52 by routing Muzammil Khan in straight frames.
Fourth seed Babar Masih was given a run for his money by unseeded Hunain Aamir, who tried to make amends for his late arrival at the venue, costing him the opening frame which proved decisive in the end.
Fifth seed Mohammad Sajjad overcame a break of 50, recorded by his unfancied opponent Saeed Khan, in the opening frame and responded with breaks of 80 and 94 in successive frames to turn the tide in his favour.
Sixth seed Shahram Changezi did not waste any time in making his presence felt as he whipped Abdul Raziq of Balochistan in straight frames.
Seventh seed Asjad Iqbal won the day with the compilation of breaks of 57 and 61 in successive frames after losing two of the first three frames against Mohammad Jawed.
Eighth seed Abdul Jawed survived a scare at the hands of Jawaid Ansari. He won the last couple of frames after having trailed 2-3 in the nail-biting encounter.
The 38 participating cueists have been divided into eight groups for the preliminary rounds, whose matches will continue for three more days.
At the end of the preliminary rounds, the top two cueists from each of the eight groups will reach the knockout stage starting with the pre-quarter-finals which will be best-of-nine-frame encounters.
The semi-finals will be best-of-11-frame affairs with the final to be a best-of-15-frame duel. Both the semi-finals and final will be telecast live on Geo Super.
The winner of the eight-day event will receive a purse of Rs70,000, while the runner-up will collect Rs40,000. The losing semi-finalists and the quarter-finalists will be compensated with Rs15,000 each and Rs5,000 each, respectively, while the highest break award will fetch Rs5,000.
Results:
Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Muzammil Khan (Sindh) 4-0 (66-17, 80-1, 69-21, 72-0); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Iftikhar Khan (Sindh) 4-0 (92-1, 88-22, 87-10, 73-38); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Hunain Aamir (Pjb) 4-2 (1-0, 94-7, 25-64, 29-87, 66-15, 75-22); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Nadir Miran (Pjb) 4-0 (70-21, 89-12, 66-22, 55-27); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Saeed Khan (Bal) 4-1 (0-77, 96-1, 94-0, 81-25, 91-20); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (61-23, 7-67, 61-59, 21-57, 65-18, 37-84, 70-60); Shahram Changezi (Isb) bt Abdul Raziq (Bal) 4-0 (86-0, 76-10, 77-42, 75-19); Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-1 (81-18, 69-59, 64-44, 49-63, 61-52); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Mohammad Jawed (Pjb) 4-2 (60-45, 60-64, 38-74, 69-43, 76-11, 77-23); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Farhan Noor (Pjb) 4-0 (73-1, 76-16, 73-36, 75-15); Abdul Jawed (Pjb) bt Jawaid Ansari (Sindh) 4-3 (86-10, 35-74, 57-1, 28-77, 36-62, 55-40, 54-46); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-3 (8-77, 30-68, 54-43, 53-74, 74-28, 57-29, 72-30); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-0 (74-32, 82-0, 65-44,102-22); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Nouman Iqbal (Isb) 4-2 (57-48, 35-77, 108-18, 63-61, 0-68, 85-17); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) 4-1 (83-1, 58-62, 65-29, 72-26, 69-1); Mohammad Afzal (Pjb) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-3 (1-64, 51-56, 41-58, 57-53, 64-44, 82-24, 92-36); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 4-0 (89-30, 86-9, 65-17, 99-0).