Four seeded cueists eliminated from Ranking Snooker

KARACHI: On a day of upsets, as many as four seeded cueists, including top seed Mohammad Bilal, were toppled in the pre-quarter-finals of the Jubilee Insurance 2nd Ranking Snooker Championship 2016 here at Hotel Movenpick on Wednesday.

Mohammad Asif, Shahram Changezi and Abdul Jawed were the other seeds that crashed at the first knockout hurdle.

Sohail Shahzad, Babar Masih, Mohammad Sajjad and Asjad Iqbal, however, outwitted their rivals to enter the quarter-finals.

Shahid Aftab caused the biggest upset by routing Bilal, the reigning national champion.

Abu Saim created a sensation by whacking third seed Mohammad Asif, a former world champion.

Asif Toba blanked sixth seed Shahram and Ian Mark John ousted eighth seed Jawed.

The quarter-finals, to be best-of-nine-frame contests, will start at 10 am on Thursday (today).

Abu Saim will be pitted against Ian, Asif Toba will confront Babar Masih, Shahid will lock horns with Sohail and Asjad will be up against Sajjad.

All the eight seeded cueists had topped their groups.

Asif, Shahram and Jawed were eliminated in the morning session. Bilal fell in the afternoon session.

The early exit of Asif and Shahram was shocking as they were humbled by their opponents without being allowed to get into rhythm.

“I was completely outplayed by Abu Saim. I just couldn’t get going and he continued playing well all along,” a visibly upset Asif told ‘The News’ in a brief chat. “The rub of the green also went his way and I didn’t get any opportunity of staging a comeback,” he added.

Shahram, who has a knack of delivering the goods in tough conditions, was unable to turn it around against Asif Toba.

Javed went down fighting against Ian Mark John as the match went to the full distance of nine frames.  It lasted nearly four hours until the latter claimed it with a well compiled break of 99.

Babar Masih was the only seeded cueist to overpower his rival in the morning session. He didn’t look back after registering a break of 104 in the opening frame against Sharjeel Mahmood.

Shahid, a former national champion, succeeded in taming Bilal after an incredibly good game. He chalked up breaks of 83 and 74 to seal the fate of the match.

Second seed Sohail came from behind to overcome the dangerous Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir in another marathon encounter going to the full distance. Both the cueists were locked in a fierce battle but the former brought his greater experience into play to settle the issue.

Seventh seed Asjad also endured some tense moments before sealing the fate of the match a break of 83 in the eighth frame against Mohammad Ijaz.

Fifth seed Mohammad Sajjad was not much troubled by Mohammad Faheem and he signed off with a break of 104.

Results: (Pre-quarter-finals):

Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Mohammad Asif (Pjb) 5-1 (46-39, 73-35, 70-15, 23-64, 77-31, 68-37); Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Abdul Jawed (Pjb) 5-4 (0-1, 42-51, 30-74, 69-39, 64-16, 19-81, 83-42, 75-71, 99-0); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Shahram Changezi (Isb) 5-0 (93-15, 77-42, 79-51, 56-45, 73-66); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) 5-1 (107-29, 76-37, 72-17, 50-54, 107-10, 83-16); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) 5-2 (74-26, 0-97, 42-83, 63-50, 74-20, 62-19, 59-49); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 5-4 (68-9, 24-65, 75-43, 33-75, 28-65, 11-58, 71-11, 62-36, 60-37); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) 5-3 (12-67, 81-1, 52-44, 83-42, 78-43, 25-75, 31-55, 123-0); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) 5-2 (58-21, 65-16, 2-66, 63-33, 61-48, 33-72, 104-0).