Babar storms into National Snooker pre-quarters

KARACHI: Wild card entrant Babar Masih stormed into the pre-quarter-finals of the National Snooker championship 2015 whose preliminary round matches will conclude here at the Movenpick Hotel on Thursday (today).
Top seed Mohammad Sajjad, third seed Abdul Sattar and sixth seed Mohammad Asif also ensured their spots in the pre-quarter-finals alongwith the unseeded trio of Khurram Hussain Agha, Sultan Mohammad and Rambail Gul.
Nine slots for the last-16 stage are still up for grabs and quite a few absorbing battles are expected on the sixth and final day of league matches.
Sajjad and Khurram have already secured the top two positions in the Group A, but there is a three-horse race in the Group B with second seed Imran Shahzad, Hunain Aamir and Aamir Shahzad vying for the two places in the next round.
Abdul Sattar moved to the next stage from the Group C where debutant Abdul Rahim, who was the runner-up in the Junior Championship last month, remains in the run with Aakash Rafique.
Babar, in spectacular form, cruised into the last-16 from the Group D leaving a fight between fourth seed Hamza Akbar and Mohammad Bilal for the runner-up slot.
There are three contenders for the top two positions in the Group E as unbeaten Shahram Changezi takes on defending champion and fifth seed Asif Toba with Mohammad Ishtiaq also pushing hard to sneak into the pre-quarters.
There is no such tension in the Group F where both the positions have already been decided with Mohammad Asif and Sultan Mohammad having played brilliantly.
There’s everything to play for in the Group G, however, in which Majid Ali, Mohammad Imran, Sohail Shahzad and Mohammad Faizan are battling for the top two slots.
Rambail Gul has made it to the last-16 from the Group H, while eighth seed Asjad Iqbal is fighting for survival being strongly challenged by Shahid Aftab and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir.
Sultan Mohammad fired a break of 131 on Wednesday to equal Mohammad Sajjad’s highest break of the tournament.
Earlier in the day, Abdul Rahim showed maturity beyond his years to compile a break of 124, while Abdul Sattar chalked up a break of 105.
Results:
Nauman Iqbal (Isb) bt Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) 4-3 (59-58, 41-77, 75-47, 70-42, 41-75, 25-67, 59-28); Hunain Amir (Pjb) bt Aamir Tariq (Pjb) 4-3 (78-30, 30-70, 77-28, 24-72, 51-45, 28-50, 67-50); Abdul Rahim (Pjb) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-1 (90-43, 43-50, 60-55, 62-13, 125-0), Bahadur Khan (Bal) bt Mohammad Fahim (Pjb) 4-0 (67-58, 60-32, 87-28, 85-0); Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Gul Afzal (Isb) 4-3 (65-10, 101-35, 65-52, 32-76, 25-79, 36-63, 61-52); Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) bt Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-2 (20-75, 75-28, 50-44, 65-42, 36-74, 68-37); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Saeed Ahmed (Bal) 4-1 (50-4, 68-29, 58-62, 61-20, 72-28); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Sarbuland Khan (KP) 4-1 (85-7, 0-94, 72-16, 62-17, 73-51); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) Toufiq Jhori (Sindh) 4-1 (73-31, 44-52, 65-33, 85-08, 67-37); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Hunain Aamir (Pjb) 4-2 (59-47, 21-51, 70-39, 60-63, 60-8, 96-34); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-2 (102-16, 25-98, 50-27, 80-11, 16-62, 105-9); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) 4-1 (60-23, 98-1), 64-58, 0-70, 78-9); Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) bt Farhan Khan (KP) 4-3 (56-86, 32-63, 11-65, 65-47, 58-19, 72-37); Saqib Butt (Pjb) bt Jahangir Bangulzai (Bal) 4-0 (walkover); Mohammad Imran (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KP) 4-2 (42-69, 84-0, 57-10, 60-52, 34-71, 78-29); Zulfiqar Qadir (Sindh) bt Nauman Awan (KP) 4-0 (56-26, 78-32, 92-1, 78-21); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Uzair Aziz (Sindh) 4-0 (57-60, 72-29, 64-7, 1-81, 23-86, 131-0, 66-25).