National Jr U-18 Snooker C’ship begins

KARACHI: Sheikh Muhammad Mudassir and Ahsan Ramzan caused upsets on the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance 3rd National Junior U-18 Snooker Championship 2018 which cued off at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad on Saturday.

Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) alongwith Muhammad Azam Dar, Director, National Federations, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) inaugurated the six-day event. Naveed Kapadia, Tournament Director, and a large number of spectators including parents of the participating teenagers were also present at the opening ceremony. As many as 32 cueists from all over the country are taking part in the opening national snooker event of the New Year, being sponsored by Jubilee Insurance Limited. The first major upset was caused by Sheikh Muhammad Mudassir of Punjab when he, with his better strategy managed to defeat top seed of the championship Muhammad Umar Khan of his own province with the scores of 3-1. Ahsan Ramzan of Punjab created second upset when he outplayed the Sindh Champion Sheikh Qambar Hussain in straight frames. The league matches will continue till January 8 and the top two cueists from each group will qualify for the knockout phase starting with the pre-quarter finals.

Results:

Samran Yaseen (Isb) bt Bilal Khan (KPK) 3-1 (42-53, 60-32, 54-22, 44-12); Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) bt Muhammad Rafay (Sindh) 3-0 (1-0, 83-39, 50-20); Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) bt Abdullah Rizwan (KPK) 3-0 (59-11, 50-22, 80-22); Malik Muzammil Khan (KPK) bt Mustafa Amir (Sindh) 3-0 (1-0, 70-26, 68-30); Ahsan Raza (Pjb) bt Sheikh Qambar Hussain (Sindh) 3-0 (47-63, 71-61, 56-46, 61-18); Muhammad Rafiq (KPK) bt Kamran Chaudhray (Isb) 3-0 (53-26, 60-37, 56-21); Yasir Ahmed (Bal) bt Agha Damin Ali (Pjb) 3-0 (58-45, 67-44, 50-31)Sheharyar Abbas (Pjb) bt Sheriyar Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (49-59, 59-24, 42-56, 53-28); Munsif Uddin (KPK) bt Abdul Mueed (Bal) 3-0 (69-9, 71-2, 53-23); Kamran Albert Masih (KPK) bt Noman Salam (Bal) 3-0 (81-16, 64-28, 54-13): Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Sheikh Qambar Hussain (Sindh) 3-0 (71-14, 61-33, 60-25).