10th National Junior U-21 Snooker C’ship 2018

Ali, Raees score stunning victories

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

KARACHI: Ali Zaman Khan stunned top seeded Umer Farooq and Raees Ali Usama shocked second seed Sheheryar Khan while Muhammad Naseem Akhtar, the reigning world champion, survived a scare at the hands of Usman Ahmed on the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance 10th National Junior U-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 in 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, Umar Farooq of Punjab and Shaheryar Khan of Sindh respectively.

But is another unseeded cueist, Usman Ahmed of Punjab, who came close to bringing the most significant upset of the day before going 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 semifinalist Muhammad Rafiq. It was yet another absorbing contest going 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 M 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); M Naseem Akhtar ( Pjb) bt Usman Ahmed (Pjb) 3-2 (68-39, 35-65, 70-45, 37-87, 58-15); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt M 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 M 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); M 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 M Umer Khan (Pjb); M Shahbaz (Pjb) v Mubashir Khan (KPK); Fahad Ali (KPK) v Shahzaib Malik (Pjb); Sohaib Usman (Isb) v M 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).