Asjad pips Asif, Mubashir ousts Sohail in pre-quarters

KARACHI: Second seed Asjad Iqbal edged out holder Mohammad Asif and unseeded Mubashir Raza knocked out sixth seed Sohail Shahzad in the pre-quarter-finals of the 9th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2017 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Saturday.

Fifth seed Shahid Aftab also reached the quarter-finals along with the unseeded lot of Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Bilal, Mohammad Ijaz, Haris Tahir and Mohammad Majid Ali.

All the four quarter-finals will get under way on Sunday (today) simultaneously at 10 am. Abdul Sattar (Sindh) will lock horns with Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) will clash with Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) will be pitted against Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), and Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) will confront Haris Tahir (Punjab).

As expected, the pre-quarter-final between Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Asif turned out to be an enthralling contest in which youth finally prevailed over experience.

Asif, a former world champion, found himself dethroned of the title as Asjad outwitted him 5-3 with the frame scores of 59-14, 67-17, 35-78, 62-51, 49-62, 89-0, 20-65, 79-16.

Asjad, who did a marvelous job in containing his partner, showed his pedigree by forcing a break of 89 in the sixth frame and it was the only break in the excess of 30 by either cueist during the course of their eight-frame battle.

Unseeded Mubashir Raza created a major upset in the pre-quarter-finals when he overpowered sixth seed Sohail Shahzad 5-2 with the frame scores of 60-49, 41-70, 70-32, 69-22, 67-10, 10-53, 64-53.

Sohail, rated as one of the top local cueists with considerable international experience, was unable to stage a comeback after having lagged behind in the opening frames. Mubashir stayed in control by firing a break of 55 in the fourth frame.

Shahid Aftab showed no mercy in hammering unseeded Shah Khan in straight frames with the scores of 76-15, 69-43, 99-17, 72-26, 64-61.

Mohammad Bilal dominated the battle of national champions as he overwhelmed Babar Masih 5-2 with the frame scores of 131-8, 7-17, 96-40, 39-62, 96-0, 125-9, 71-28.

Bilal, renowned for his break-building abilities, was not overawed by the reputation of his opponent and he was able to play his natural attacking game which enabled him to chalk up big breaks of 131, 85 and 101 and which proved decisive in the end.

Mohammad Majid Ali, one of the most promising youngsters of the country, had to bring all his expertise into play to tame the obdurate Sharjeel Mahmood 5-3 with the frame scores of 40-59, 23-65, 99-19, 18-52, 57-41, 77-52, 108-13, 63-58. He succeeded in having posted breaks of 63 and 50 in a tensely-fought fixture.

Abdul Sattar downed Agha Bilawal 5-3 with the frame scores of 71-41, 19-71, 94-40, 70-26, 89-5, 43-92, 46-62, 76-22 in the only all-Sindh pre-quarter-final while Mohammad Ijaz of Punjab defeated Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir of Sindh 5-3 with the scores of 68-19, 39-73, 25-82, 101-40, 19-70, 65-16, 60-40, 67-39 and Haris Tahir of Punjab overcame Mohammad Ishtaiq of Sindh 5-3 with the scores of 33-79, 76-53, 88-40, 8-74, 63-11, 0-80, 80-9, 66-47.