Ahsan, Shahram struggling to reach knockout round

KARACHI: Seventh seed Mohammad Ahsan Javaid and eighth seed Shahram Changezi jeopardised their chances of proceeding to the knockout phase by succumbing to defeats on the penultimate day of league matches in the 9th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2017 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Thursday.

Unseeded Agha Bilawal qualified for the pre-quarter-finals from the Group A in which top seed Mohammad Sajjad is the leading contender for the other slot.

Second seed Asjad Iqbal and unseeded Mubashir Raza have already secured the two pre-quarter-final berths from the Group B. Third seed Khurram Hussain Agha is the favourite to join the last 16 from the Group C alongwith unseeded Haris Tahir, who has already qualified.

Fourth seed Nadir Miran, having lost a game, is struggling to make the cut from the Group D from which unseeded Majid Ali has already advanced to the pre-quarters. Both the last-16 slots have been decided in the Group E as fifth seed Shahid Aftab and unseeded Mohammad Ijaz have progressed to the next round.

There was fierce competition for the knockout slots and there was everything to play for in the Group F, G and H going into the fourth and final day of preliminary round matches on Friday (today).

Defending champion Mohammad Asif and sixth seed Sohail Shahzad are in contention for the knockout places from the Group F where Abu Saim and Aakash Rafique have also mounted great challenge.

Seventh seed Ahsan Javaid still has a hope of entering the knockout round from the Group G where the unseeded trio of Babar Masih, Sharjeel Mahmood and Asif Toba has fared creditably to stake claims.

Eighth seed Shahram Changezi finds himself in a tight corner in the Group H where the unseeded quartet of Mohammad Bilal, Mohammad Faizan, Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir have come up with sterling performances to become front runners for the knockout slots.

Results: Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) 4-0 (58-47, 52-15, 66-14, 80-48); Mohammad Ishtaiq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) 4-3 (59-30, 82-17, 23-82, 53-55, 61-59, 35-63, 75-57); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Aamir Sohail (KP) 4-3 (64-35, 59-32, 47-58, 43-72, 66-46, 0-94, 88-31); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Shahid Shafiq (Pjb) 4-2 (59-55, 24-52, 50-17, 113-0, 45-47, 70-59); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt  Munawwar Khaliq (Isb) 4-0 (67-2, 89-1, 58-50, 70-18); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-0 (66-18, 65-27, 75-64, 72-5); Nadir Miran (Pjb) bt Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (58-66, 66-52, 61-12, 52-25, 53-62, 74-30); Shah Khan (KP) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-3 (72-50, 50-14, 75-48, 16-59, 7-76, 0-75, 67-14); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt  Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-2 (87-39, 63-52, 24-74, 41-69, 67-56, 50-19); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Muhammad Saqib (Pjb) 4-0 (58-43, 65-3, 83-1, 59-17); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-3 (71-31, 49-60, 35-66, 34-65, 63-47, 65-28, 80-54); Aakash Rafique (KP) bt Umar Farooq (Pjb) 4-0 (96-23, 65-30, 67-16, 71-16); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-0 (82-17, 50-9, 67-14, 53-10); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Shahram Changezi (Isb) 4-2 (15-87, 59-14, 104-8, 85-19, 20-67, 66-55); Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb) 4-3 (66-25, 41-44, 30-81, 56-32, 58-33, 12-73, 67-64).