Adil wins thriller to reach quarters

KARACHI: Mohammad Adil of Balochistan edged out Mohammad Saqib of Punjab after a grueling seven-frame battle in the pre-quarter-finals of the National Junior (Under-21) Snooker championship 2015 here at the Movenpick Hotel on Thursday.
The Punjab quartet of Abdul Rahim, Mohammad Afzal, Mohammad Fahim and Aamir Tariq, however, reached the quarter-finals along with the Islamabad duo of Mohammad Hassan Anwar and Nouman Iqbal. Ali Zaman Khan was the lone cueist from Sindh to have triumphed in the pre-quarters.
The quarter-finals, to be best-of-seven-frame contests, will be held in the morning session on Friday (today). They will be followed by the best-of-nine-frame semi-finals, due to commence at 3 pm.
In the quarter-finals, Abdul Rahim will take on Mohammad Hassan Anwar, Mohammad Adil will be pitted against Nouman Iqbal, Mohammad Afzal will battle it out against Mohammad Fahim and Aamir Tariq will be up against Ali Zaman Khan.
As expected, quite a few pre-quarter-finals turned out to be fiercely fought affairs as the youngsters came across the challenge of a knockout game for the first time during the competition.
The contest between Adil and Saqib went to the full distance of seven frames. The former withstood the pressure in the decisive seventh frame to win the day.
Ibrahim, from Balochistan, went down fighting against Hassan who won the game 4-2. Mohammad Afzal had to work hard before downing Tanvir Baloch of Sindh 4-2. Nouman Iqbal played well to overcome Haris Tahir of Punjab 4-2.
Aamir Tariq whipped Mohammad Bilal in straight frames, signing off with a fabulous break of 95 — the highest of the competition so far.
Abdul Rahim was also in excellent form as he blanked Gawish Khan of Sindh in straight frames. He chalked up an impressive break of 51 in the third frame.
Ali Zaman Khan prevailed over Fahad Khan in the all-Sindh encounter, winning the match 4-1.
Results: Abdul Rahim (Pjb) bt Gawish Khan (Sindh) 4-0 (66-34, 69-33, 68-16, 57-15); Hassan Anwar (Isb) bt Mohammad Ibrahim (Bal) 4-2 (46-41, 20-53, 56-31, 41-75, 64-28, 67-44); Mohammad Adil (Bal) bt Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) 4-3 (83-38, 52-71, 62-31, 56-39, 54-60, 54-62, 75-17); Nouman Iqbal (Isb) bt Haris Tahir (Pjb) 4-2 (60-16, 63-48, 0-72, 55-59, 71-32, 61-41); Mohammad Afzal (Pjb) bt Tanvir Baloch (Sindh) 4-2 (48-59, 69-33, 95-6, 57-54, 19-68, 65-2); Mohammad Fahim (Pjb) bt Junaid Ali (Sindh) 4-0 (93-23, 101-40, 70-11, 77-66); Aamir Tariq (Pjb) bt Mohammad Bilal (Sindh) 4-0 (62-39, 54-29, 78-32, 135-0); Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) bt Fahad Khan (Sindh) 4-1 (57-55, 21-60, 74-55, 51-34, 62-35).