Yousuf moves into National Masters Snooker quarters

KARACHI: Mohammad Yousuf stormed into the quarter-finals of the inaugural Jubilee Insurance National Masters Snooker Championship 2017 by overwhelming Naveen Kumar Perwani in the all-Sindh pre-quarter-finals at the Champions Snooker Academy in Lahore on Tuesday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), Shah Khan (KPK), Mukhtar Khan (Sindh), Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Mohammad Nadeem (Pjb), Imran Shahzad (Pjb), Shahzad Butt (Pjb) and Naseem Paracha (Sindh) also reached the last eight by overpowering their respective rivals in the pre-quarters.

Meanwhile all the four quarters-finals, to be spread over a couple of sessions, will be held on Wednesday (today). In the morning session, due to start at 10 am, Shah Khan will lock horns with Mukhtar Khan and Khurram Agha will combat Mohammad Nadeem while in the afternoon session, scheduled to commence at 12 noon, Imran Shahzad will clash with Shahzad Butt and Mohammad Yousuf will take on Naseem Paracha. The best-of-nine frame semi-finals will also be taking place later in the evening.

Mohammad Yousuf, the only Pakistani to have won the World Masters title, inched closer towards annexing the national masters crown by overcoming Naveen Perwani, another outstanding cueist of the yesteryears, 4-1 with the frame scores of 57-47, 61-11, 35-49, 58-48, 51-11.

Khurram Agha, who remained Pakistan’s top ranked cueist for the better part of the past decade, had to bring all his expertise into play to down Amir Sohail 4-3 with the scores of 47-77, 82-32, 62-76, 49-61, 60-14, 60-8, 61-14 as it was the only pre-quarter-final tie to be extended to the full distance of seven frames.

Imran Shahzad, another prolific cueist of the recent past, also had to come out of his comfort zone to edge out Syed Mujtahid Ali Shah 4-2 with the scores of 53-61, 64-53, 48-38, 94-14, 27-70, 63-14. Trailing 1-2, he fired a break of 94 in the fourth frame to change the course of the proceedings.

In the other pre-quarter-finals, Shah Khan blanked Waheed Ahmed in straight frames with the scores of 62-34, 70-43, 56-18, 64-39, Mukhtar Khan defeated Azhar Khan 4-2 with the frame scores of 26-76, 59-47, 61-46, 57-50, 35-65, 64-44, Mohammad Nadeem outwitted Atif Mughal 4-2 with the scores of 76-46, 63-68, 61-30, 66-36, 25-79, 60-42, Shahzad Butt outgunned Noman Awan in straight frames with the scores of 75-15, 92-09, 96-38, 61-48 and Naseem Paracha rattled Mahmood Khan 4-1 with the scores of 69-28, 14-60, 62-10, 63-43, 64-38.