Khurram, Sajjad advance to National Snooker semis

KARACHI: Unseeded Khurram Hussain Agha edged out seventh seed Shahram Changezi and fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad overpowered fifth seed Sohail Shahzad in the quarter-finals of the Jubilee Insurance 42nd National Snooker Championship 2017 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

In the other two quarter-finals, eighth seed Asjad Iqbal outsmarted wild card entrant Mohammad Ahsan Javaid and Nadir Miran prevailed over Shahid Afttab in the duel between the unseeded cueists.

Both the best of 11-frame semi-finals, to be televised live on Geo Super, will be contested on Monday (today). In the first semi-final, due to start at 10 am, Asjad Iqbal will be taking on Nadir Miran which will be followed by the other pre-final, in which Mohammad Sajjad will lock horns with Khurram Agha.

Two of the four quarter-finals produced surprising results.

The 40-year-old Khurram Agha, who had remained Pakistan’s number one cueist for the better part of the last decade, continued his dream run in the competition as he succeeded in taming seventh seed Shahram Changezi in the quarter-finals after having stunned third seed Mohammad Asif, the 2012 world champion, in the pre-quarter-finals, the other day.

Though Khurram, hailing from Karachi, had overwhelmed Asif 5-1 with hints of conviction, he was fortunate to have outwitted Shahram Changezi, the ace cueist from Islamabad, 5-4 with the scores of 86-18, 54-66, 59-45, 19-59, 46-57, 62-50, 7-83, 58-38, 62-45.

Unable to construct any notable break in any of the nine frames, the vastly-experienced Khurram had the rub of the green going his way and he was able to win the day despite having made quite a few unforced errors.

Shahram Changezi, who had toppled the defending champion and top seed Mohammad Bilal in the pre-quarter-finals, appeared to have gained control by firing a break of 77 in the seventh frame which put him 4-3 ahead. But he succumbed in the next two frames to be knocked out of the event.

Fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad capitalized on his strong start to defeat fifth seed Sohail Shahzad 5-2 with the frame scores of 100-7, 78-8, 8-69, 72-42, 56-22, 29-76, 79-16.

The two-time former national champion from Sargodha began with a break of 53 in the opening frame and followed it up with another one of 55 in the very next frame. Going 2-0 up in quick time, he made the most of it and didn’t let his opponent, hailed as the most accomplished local cueist, stage a comeback.

Eighth seed Asjad Iqbal, also belonging to Sargodha, had to bring all his expertise into play to overcome Ahsan Javaid as he refused to surrender without fighting till the end.

After an absorbing battle in which both the cueists looked at their best, Asjad succeeded in beating his inexperienced rival 5-3 with the frame scores of 36-76, 64-38, 26-69, 80-0, 99-5, 98-0, 29-71, 62-55.

Asjad’s superior break-building abilities helped him in emerging triumphant in what otherwise was a close contest. He chalked up breaks of 50, 68, 78 and 81 in four different frames to turn the tide in his favour.

Unseeded Nadir Miran surprised the experienced Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, by defeating him 5-3 with the frame scores of 72-56, 22-60, 24-88, 72-05, 41-59, 70-63, 67-42, 70-9.