Rana Irfan stuns Ahsan as National Snooker begins

KARACHI: Qualifier Rana Irfan stunned second seed and former world champion Ahsan Rizwan on the opening day of the NBP 47th National Snooker Championship 2023 which cued off here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Wednesday.

Fifth seed and former national champion Shahid Aftab registered the highest break of the day (140) but he missed the rare opportunity of compiling a perfect break of 147 by a whisker as he couldn’t pot the black ball finally. Abdul Javed and Rana Irfan also constructed century breaks on an eventful day of snooker.

Rana Irfan, having qualified for the Nationals on the basis of his performance in the Punjab Cup, turned out the star of the day as he sounded a warning to his fancied rival with a break of 103 in the second frame before toppling him 4-2 to create one of the major upsets in domestic circuit.

Muhammad Sajjad, the defending champion and the top seed for the event, began the event with a bang by whipping Muhammad Bilal in straight frames. Third seed Babar Masih survived a scare at the hands of Jawed Ansari, a local qualifier, edging him 4-3.

Results: Babar Masih s(Pjb) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-3 (41-51, 80-43, 0-81, 32-98, 98-13, 71-35, 106-8); Akash Rafiq (KPK) bt Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) 4-2 (14-75, 68-33, 64-57, 16-71, 69-19, 94-2); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Zaib Khan (Bal) 4-3 (109-8, 30-64, 40-63, 62-52, 98-47, 33-70, 68-15); Wasim Abbas (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-1 (47-37, 56-18, 59-32, 1-75, 57-42); Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) 4-0 (72-44, 56-50, 97-4, 62-34); Shah Namat (Isb) bt Jahanzaib Jahangir (Bal) 4-0 (102-9, 103-13, 86-40, 78-31); Rana Irfan (Pjb) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) 4-2 (63-39, 121-0, 39-83(83), 56-20, 39-78, 58-17); Ali Hamza (Sindh) bt Sirbuland Khan (KPK) 4-1 (75-34, 48-65, 59-56, 87-48, 59-46); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Fawad Khan (KPK) 4-0 (79-14, 81-8, 140-0, 58-26); Abdul Javed (Isb) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-1 (101-0, 30-68, 102-31, 67-9, 57-4); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Muhammad Iftikhar (Sindh) 4-3 (72-45, 4-70, 36-60, 0-75, 112-6, 65-26, 61-18).