Seeded quartet falter in National Junior Snooker

KARACHI: The four seeded players, Sheheryar Khan, Rabish Pervaiz, Usman Khurshid and Sohaib Usman, were at the receiving end on the second day of the Jubilee Insurance 10th National Junior U-21 Snooker Championship being staged at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Sunday, Sheheryar, Rabish and Usman, the provincial cup champions, and Sohaib Usman, the Islamabad Cup champion, were undone by Mahmood Ahmed, Mubashir Munsif, Shaikh Mudassir and Naseem Akhtar, respectively.

A total of 34 cueists from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Islamabad, having been divided in eight groups, are contesting the preliminary rounds at the end of which the top two cueists from each group will qualify for the knockout phase starting with pre-quarter-finals.

The defending champion Naseem, who is also the reigning world champion, has already booked his place in the last 16 by winning his first couple of league matches. Last year’s runner-up Haris Tahir has also cruised into the pre-quarters by winning both his games.

However, with quite a few seeded cueists struggling on the first couple of days, there are plenty of places up for grabs for the talented newcomers from all over the country to progress to the next round.

Results: Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) bt Yasir Ahmed (Bal) 3-0 (64-43, 60-25, 51-27); Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) bt Hamza Aftab (KPK) 3-1 (52-27, 12-67, 66-57, 66-16); Hussain Godil (Sindh) bt Adil Shah (Bal) 3-0 (67-31, 43-34, 50-14); Umer Khan (Pjb) bt Bilal Ali Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (68-13, 65-37, 91-45); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Mubashir Khan (KP) 3-1 (10-45, 73-17, 90-1, 62-19); Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) bt Fahad Ali (KP) 3-1 (56-53, 44-43, 51-63, 59-20); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Sohaib Usman (Isb) 3-0 (61-19, 53-19, 65-38); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Altaf Hussain (Bal) 3-0 (88-14, 55-15, 75-27); Umer Farooq (Pjb) bt Sheikh Ahmed (KP) 3-0 (59-18, 65-10, 49-10); Mahmood Ahmed (Isb) bt Sheheryar Khan (Sindh) 3-1 (55-15, 65-38, 21-57, 56-23); Shaikh Mudassir (Pjb) bt Usman Khurshid (KP) 3-1 (52-60, 66-27, 62-11, 47-39); Mubashir Munsif (KP) bt Rabish Pervez (Bal) 3-2 (49-38, 69-14, 49-37, 32-57, 65-58); Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) bt S M Imran (Sindh) 3-1 (65-2, 36-40, 80-29, 68-25); Abdul Aziz (Bal) bt Siddiq Khan (Sindh) 3-2 (44-42, 19-39, 58-44, 61-65, 66-25); Aqib Nawaz (Sindh) bt Atif Arshad (KP) 3-1 (39-43, 64-37, 51-20, 52-35); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Yasir Nouman (Sindh) 3-2 (61-42, 23-65, 56-45, 23-63, 65-9).

Today’s fixtures:

Usman Ahmed (Pjb) v Atif Arshad (KPK); Muhammad Rafiq (KP) v Yasir Nouman (Sindh); Sohaib Usman (Isb) v Aqib Nawaz (Sindh); Altaf Hussain (Bal) v Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb); Usman Khurshid (KP) v Adil Shah (Bal); Rabish Pervez (Bal) v Bilal Ali Khan (Sindh); Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) v Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb); Siddiq Khan (Sindh) v Fahad Ali (KP); Umer Farooq (Pjb) v Yasir Ahmed (Bal); Sheheryar Khan (Sindh) v Hamza Aftab (KP); Aqib Nawaz (Sindh) v Naseem Akhtar (Pjb); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) v Haris Tahir (Pjb); Shaikh Ahmed (KP) v Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh); Mahmood Ahmed (Isb) v Raees Ali Usama (Pjb); Usman Ahmed (Pjb) v Sohaib Usman (Isb); Muhammad Rafiq (KP) v Altaf Hussain (Bal).