Consistent Bilal reaches last-eight stage

KARACHI: Fourth seed Mohammad Bilal stormed into the quarter-finals with his fifth straight win but top seeded Babar Masih and fifth seed Abu Saim jeopardised their chances of progressing into the knockout phase by suffering defeats on the penultimate day of the eighth edition of NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2016 here at the NBP Sports Complex on Thursday.

Unseeded Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir has become the favourite to top the Group A by shocking Babar Masih. It was the fourth victory on a trot for the local youngster.

With two defeats in as many days, top seeded Babar faces a tough fight from eighth seed Shahid Aftab and unseeded Majid Ali, the other two aspirants for the knockout spot from the Group A.

There is a three-horse race in the Group B in which unseeded Sharjeel Mahmood has created a sensation by winning all his four matches, which means either second seed Sohail Shahzad or seventh seed Mohammad Asif, who will play each other today, might have to miss the boat.

Unseeded Khurram Hussain Agha, by winning four matches, has made life tense for the two seeded cueists in the Group C, Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Sajjad, one of whom is expected to be eliminated before the knockout rounds as Asif Toba, another unseeded cueist, is also in the run with three victories in four outings.

The situation is different in the Group D in which Mohammad Bilal, the reigning national champion, has remained undefeated. He became the first cueist to book his place in the quarter-finals and he did it in style. He overpowered Shahram Changezi, who had been unbeaten in the earlier matches, in straight frames with his signature break of 112.

Shahram, the most accomplished cueist to have emerged on the scene from the federal capital, bounced back quickly later in the day and his 4-1 victory over fifth seed Abu Saim brought him closer to securing his place in the last eight.

It was the fourth defeat in five games for Abu Saim which meant an early exit for the vastly experienced cueist from Sialkot, who had fared creditably in the national events earlier in the year.

With so many quarter-final spots up for the grabs, the last day of league matches on Friday (today) is expected to produce cracking stuff as all the seeded cueists will be taking on each other.

As many as 19 cueists will be eliminated from the competition at the end of the league matches with the top two cueists from each of the four groups to qualify for the knockout phase, due to start with the quarter-finals on Saturday (tomorrow).

The semi-finals on Sunday will be followed by the final on Monday.

Results: Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Abdul Raheem (Pjb) 4-3 (61-27, 34-69, 22-80, 66-64, 37-67, 79-18, 57-39); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-1 (86-1, 92-39, 119-7, 36-73, 60-54); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) 4-2 (102-1, 0-93, 43-68, 71-65, 69-28, 83-35); Mohammad Afzal (Pbb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-1 63-38, 91-38, 90-30, 8-71, 80-38); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Babar Masih (Pjb) 4-3 (93-24, 11-63, 18-60, 82-7, 24-76, 61-58, 49-14); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) 4-0 (90-16, 74-38, 78-23, 57-5); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Abdul Jawed (Pjb) 4-0 (81-40, 68-21, 52-31, 50-32); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Shahram Changezi (Isb) 4-0 (78-56, 73-34, 118-0, 58-17); Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Iftikhar Khan (Sindh) 4-2 (24-70, 71-45, 89-0, 71-10, 0-136, 76-15); Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) bt Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) 4-2 (86-7, 55-36, 98-0, 42-69, 49-76, 86-0); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Muzammil Khan (Sindh) 4-0 (87-26, 101-15, 53-41, 76-25); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-1 (65-30, 75-42, 39-58, 71-54, 69-9); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) 4-1 (90-9, 63-74, 85-10, 91-0, 71-18); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Abdul Jawed (Pjb) 4-2 (82-6, 83-53, 77-27, 0-73, 58-45); Shahram Changezi (Isb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-1 (78-12, 53-65, 96-56, 79-1, 100-9).