Punjab cueists remain favourites as semis to be contested today

National U21 Snooker Championship

KARACHI: With the challengers from Sindh absent and those from Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KPK), Balochistan and Islamabad unable to come to terms, the stage was set for the cueists from Punjab to dominate the Jubilee Insurance 9th National Under-21 Snooker Championship 2017 being held at the PSB Complex in Islamabad.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Tuesday, Mohammad Rafiq became the sole semi-finalist from KPK as the other three slots were captured by the Punjab trio of Umar Farooq, Naseem Akhtar and Haris Tahir.

In the semi-finals due to start simultaneously at 10am on Wednesday (today), Umar Farooq will be pitted against Naseem Akhtar, while Haris Tahir will be up against Rafiq.

The best of nine-frame final of the Jubilee Insurance 2nd Junior National U-18 Snooker Championship 2017 will also be played later today between the Punjab duo of Naseem Akhtar and Shaikh Mudasir.

The task of the Punjab cueists, who had also dominated the Under-18 event, was made simpler in the Under-19 competition by the dramatic pullout of the Sindh contingent comprising Mohammad Farid, Ali Zaman Khan, Ahmer Ali, Muzammil Khan, Mohammad Salik, Hamza Ikram, Syed Jawwad Shah and Shaharyar Khan.

There was one-way traffic in the majority of the pre-quarter-finals as the participants from Balochistan, Islamabad and even KPK struggled in their maiden knockout appearance.

The Punjab quintet of Mohammad Moez Riaz, Umar Farooq, Saud Khan, Haris Tahir and Raees Ali Usama advanced to the quarter-finals by having trounced their respective rivals in straight frames.

Tougher contests, however, were witnessed in the quarter-finals as Umar Farooq and Naseem Akhtar were taken to full seven frames by Mohammad Moez Riaz and Usman Ahmed respectively.

Haris Tahir outsmarted Saud Khan 4-1 in the all-Punjab quarter-final, while Mohammad Rafiq of KPK stormed into the semi-finals by overpowering the dangerous Raees Ali Usama of Punjab 4-2.

Results:

(Pre-quarter-finals): Mohammad Moez Riaz (Pjb) bt Mohammad Azam (KP) 4-0 (57-50, 66-38, 51-34, 63-11); Umar Farooq (Pjb) bt Mohammad Subhan (Bal) 4-0 (50-35, 48-23, 53-23, 46-26); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Rabish Perwaiz (Bal) 4-1 (71-35, 75-10, 9-68, 65-27, 65-37); Usman Ahmed (Pjb) bt Sohaib Usman (Isb) 4-1 (85-26, 44-53, 56-41, 63-36, 56-23); Saud Khan (Pjb) bt Mohammad Haris (KP) 4-0 (52-6, 56-10, 59-7, 76-5); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Usman Khurshid (KP) 4-0 (92-14, 61-34, 72-3, 58-48); Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) bt Shaikh Ahmed (KP) 4-0 (54-30, 65-6, 60-10, 55-45); Mohammad Rafiq (KP) bt Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) 4-2 (59-22, 19-1, 13-47, 63-35, 27-52, 67-45).

(Quarter-finals): Umar Farooq (Pjb) bt Mohammad Moez Riaz (Pjb) 4-3 (69-49, 44-72, 62-30, 60-88, 37-67, 55-46, 73-24); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Usman Ahmed (Pjb) 4-3 (51-30, 56-25, 41-77, 35-63, 27-64, 63-51, 76-18); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Saud Khan (Pjb) 4-1 (61-17, 78-05, 36-69, 57-22, 73-38); Mohammad Rafiq (KP) bt Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) 4-2 (65-30, 61-46, 61-36, 35-78, 54-24).