Ali, Raees cause major upsets; Naseem survives scare

KARACHI: Ali Zaman Khan stunned top seed Umer Farooq and Raees Ali Usama shocked second seed Sheheryar Khan while Muhammad Naseem Akhtar survived a scare at the hands of Usman Ahmed on the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance 10th National Junior Under-21 Snooker Championship 2018 which cued off at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad on Saturday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Friday, a total of 34 cueists from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan and Islamabad, having been divided into eight groups, have entered the competition to be spread over six days.

The unseeded duo of Ali Zaman Khan of Sindh and Raees Ali Usama of Punjab caused major upsets in the opening hours of the event by toppling the top two seeds, Umer Farooq of Punjab and Sheheryar Khan of Sindh respectively.

Another unseeded cueist Usman Ahmed of Punjab came close to bringing the most significant upset of the day but he went down fighting against defending champion Naseem Akhtar after a grueling five-frame battle.

Last year’s runner-up Haris Tahir’s break of 94 remained the highest of the day which he registered in the third frame against last year’s semi-finalist Muhammad Rafiq. It was yet another absorbing contest which went to the full distance of five frames.

Results:

Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) bt Umer Farooq (Pjb) 3-1 (35-55, 57-47, 47-34, 80-73); Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) bt Sheheryar Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (53-51, 55-43, 64-57); Usman Khurshid (KPK) bt Hussain Godil (Sindh) 3-0 (56-29, 54-11, 53-19); Rabish Pervez (Bal) bt Muhammad Umer Khan (Pjb) 3-0 (51-45, 46-36, 75-6); Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) bt Mubashir Khan (KPK) 3-0 (54-44, 53-31, 66-6); Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) bt Siddiq Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (95-5, 62-34, 46-53, 54-37); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar ( Pjb) bt Usman Ahmed (Pjb) 3-2 (68-39, 35-65, 70-45, 37-87, 58-15); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Muhammad Rafiq (KPK) 3-2 (75-47, 68-71, 94-1, 33-64, 69-13); Yasir Ahmed (Bal) bt Shaikh Ahmed (KPK) 3-2 (90-52, 27-52, 31-55, 65-35, 69-21); Hamza Aftab (KPK) bt Mahmood Ahmed (Isb) 3-2 (13-63, 51-33, 49-41, 47-58, 45-25); Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir (Pjb) bt Syed Adil Shah (Bal) 3-0 (67-57, 91-26, 56-9); Mubashir Munsif (KPK) bt Bilal Ali Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (64-25, 73-24, 21-46, 44-30); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt S M Imran (Sindh) 3-0 (72-6, 65-17, 75-2); Abdul Aziz (Bal) bt Fahad Ali (KPK) 3-0 (53-21, 52-43, 45-34); Sohaib Usman (Isb) bt Atif Arshad (KPK) 3-0 (56-22, 70-42, 64-20); Altaf Hussain (Bal) bt Yasir Nouman (Sindh) 3-1 (46-35, 87-54, 26-61, 58-20).

Today’s fixtures:

Yasir Ahmed (Bal) v Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh); Hamza Aftab (KPK) v Raees Ali Usama (Pjb); Syed Adil Shah (Bal) v Hussain Godil (Sindh); Bilal Ali Khan (Sindh) v Muhammad Umer Khan (Pjb); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) v Mubashir Khan (KPK); Fahad Ali (KPK) v Shahzaib Malik (Pjb); Sohaib Usman (Isb) v Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb); Altaf Hussain (Bal) v Haris Tahir (Pjb); Umer Farooq (Pjb) v Shaikh Ahmed (KPK); Sheheryar Khan (Sindh) v Mahmood Ahmed (Isb); Usman Khurshid (KPK) v Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir (Pjb); Rabish Pervez (Bal) v Mubashir Munsif (KPK); Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) v S M Imran (Sindh); Siddiq Khan (Sindh) v Abdul Aziz (Bal); Aqib Nawaz (Sindh) v Atif Arshad (KPK); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) v Yasir Nouman (Sindh).