Kamran, Hamza beat seeded opponents to reach quarter-finals

KARACHI: Unseeded Kamran Albert Masih stormed into the quarter-finals of the Jubilee Insurance 3rd National Junior Under-18 Snooker Championship as he eliminated third seed Mohammad Rafiq in the pre-quarter-final at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad on Tuesday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), unseeded Hamza Ilyas created another upset in the pre-quarters when he routed fourth seed Yasir Ahmed.

Kamran and Hamza, both from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), were joined in the quarter-final line-up by the Punjab quintet of Shahzaib Malik, Sheikh Mudassir, Ahsan Ramzan, Sheharyar Abbas and Umer Khan. Muhammad Rafey was the lone cueist from Sindh to move into the last-eight phase.

All the four quarter-finals will be taking place simultaneously in the morning session on Wednesday (today). Shahzaib will take on Rafay, Muddasir will clash with Kamran, Ahsan will lock horns with Umer and Sheharyar will be pitted against Hamza.

The semi-finals will be played later in the day. The final will be played on Thursday (tomorrow).Kamran caused the biggest upset of the event by edging out third seed Rafiq in the all-KP pre-quarter 4-3 with the frame scores of 59-54, 2-65, 72-31, 60-43, 42-54, 10-73, 67-19.

Rafiq, who was one of the semi-finalists last year and represented Pakistan in the Asian Junior Under-21 Snooker Championship last year at Chundigarh, India, was undone by the brilliance of his un-fancied opponent.

Hamza was in top form while smashing fourth seed and Balochistan Cup champion Yasir Ahmed in straight frames with the scores of 55-15, 63-33, 58-8, 58-10.Shahzaib whipped Malik Muzammil Khan (KP) in straight frames with the scores of 48-34, 69-26, 73-21, 82-29.

Rafay edged out Shaikh Muhammad Muzammil (Pjb) 4-3 with the scores of 58-57, 48-22, 38-46, 28-67, 56-31, 24-59, 90-82.Muddasir outgunned Sheriyar Khan (Sindh) 4-1 with the scores of 34-55, 52-40, 68-07, 71-58, 57-27.

Ahsan Ramzan overwhelmed Kamran Chaudhry (Isb) 4-1 with the scores of 56-16, 55-82, 58-03, 54-37, 72-29.Umer overcame Muhammad Bilal 4-2 in the all-Punjab encounter with the scores of 68-10, 54-22, 64-15, 48-68, 50-52, 64-18. Sheharyar ousted Muhammad Ali (Isb) 4-2 with the scores of 63-49, 54-38, 38-51, 31-41, 59-58, 59-45.