Naseem stuns Sattar in Ranking Snooker C’ship

KARACHI: Teenage sensation Mohammad Naseem Akhtar stunned fourth seed Abdul Sattar on the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance 3rd Ranking Cup Snooker Championship 2017 which cued off here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

Naseem, who has been hailed as the most promising young cueist of the country with the national Under-18 and Under-21 titles to his credit, proved too good for Abdul Sattar, dispatching him 4-1 in a one-sided encounter.

Top seed Asjad Iqbal got off to a winning start but he was robbed of a couple of frames by Mohammad Rafiq, another unseeded junior cueist, having been granted direct entry in the competition by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) in pursuance of their policy to promote young talent.

Second seed Shahid Aftab suffered similar fate at the hands of Umar Farooq, yet another junior cueist who succeeded in snatching two frames from the former national champion.

It needed century breaks in successive frames from Shahid Aftab to settle the issue after the match was deadlocked at two-all. He fired breaks of 102 and 105 to see off his threatening rival.

Third seed Mohammad Ijaz, however, faced no such hassle as he blasted Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir, the fourth junior cueist, in straight frames.

Fifth seed Mohammad Sajjad was stretched to his fullest means by the unseeded Sharjeel Mahmood as the game was extended to seven frames.

Sixth seed Mubashir Raza blanked the unseeded Shah Khan in straight frames while seventh seed Mohammad Bilal overcame the veteran Abu Saim.

Eighth seed Sohail Shahzad found himself at the receiving end first up as he was overwhelmed by the enigmatic Asif Toba in straight frames.

Defending champion Babar Masih got off to an impressive start as he defeated the experienced Imran Shahzad 4-2 while Mohammad Asif, a former world champion, began his campaign with a 4-2 victory over Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, signing off with a classy break of 141.

The 28 participating cueists have been divided equally in four groups for the preliminary rounds and all of them will be playing six league matches to be spread over five days. The top two cueists from each of the four groups will progress to the knockout phase, starting with the quarter-finals. Both the semi-finals and the final will be telecast live on Geo Super.

The top two cueists of the country at the end of the event will qualify for the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2017 to be staged at Doha, Qatar, next month while another cueist will be selected by the PBSA executive committee.

Results:

Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Mohammad Rafiq (KPK) 4-2 (61-33, 34-88. 109-14, 6-73. 62-28. 87-37); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Umar Farooq (Pjb) 4-2 (21-61, 55-25, 64-57, 8-65, 115-1 111-4); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb) 4-0 (73-36, 71-10, 77-69, 71-32); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-1 (61-37, 45-90, 62-18, 68-60, 52-26); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-0 (70-50, 68-40, 70-15, 102-0); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-1 (75-25, 101-16, 104-9, 25-83, 62-30); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KPK) 4-0 (110-0, 73-66, 64-21, 63-7); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) 4-3 (74-27, 36-77, 37-67, 66-53, 9-65, 72-23, 86-5); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Shahram Changezi (Isb) 4-2 (69-14, 44-78, 64-30, 59-16, 34-70, 71-25); Mohammad Ahsan Javiad (Pjb) bt Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 4-1 (76-6, 84-29, 29-59, 60-22, 66-39); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-2 (53-62, 66-83, 75-71, 72-25, 66-65, 82-7); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-2 (68-57, 7-71, 32-73, 58-18, 92-0, 145-0).