Mudassir registers first century break of Junior U-21 Snooker

KARACHI: Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir of Punjab chalked up the first century break of Jubilee Insurance 10th National Junior Under-21 Snooker Championship 2018 as the league matches concluded at the PSB Billiards & Snooker Hall in Islamabad on Tuesday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), Mudassir registered a classy break of 108 in the third frame against Hussain Godil of Sindh. It was the highest break of the competition, surpassing the break of 94 made by Haris Tahir, also from Punjab, on the opening day.

A total of 34 cueists from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Balochistan and Islamabad, divided into eight groups, contested the qualifying rounds and the top two cueists from each group advanced to the knockout phase starting with the pre-quarter-finals on Wednesday (today).

The quarter-finals as well as the semi-finals will be played on Thursday (tomorrow) with the final due to be held on Friday.At the end of the preliminary round matches, Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) and Umer Farooq (Pjb) qualified for the pre-quarter-finals from Group A while Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) and Hamza Aftab (KPK) made it to the last 16 from Group B.

Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir (Pjb) and Usman Khursid (KPK) shared the two knockout slots from Group C with Rabish Pervaiz (Bal) and Muhammad Umar Khan (Pjb) progressing from Group D.

The duo of Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) and Fahad Ghaffar (Isb) shared the top positions in Group E while Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) and Abdul Aziz (Bal) advanced from Group F.Defending champion Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) and Usman Ahmed (Pjb) stormed into the pre-quarters from Group G while last year’s runner-up Haris Tahir (Pjb) and Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) stole the limelight in Group H.

Results:

Sheikh Muhammad Mudassir (Pjb) bt Hussain Godil (Sindh) 3-0 (79-15, 110-0, 57-3); Muhammad Umer Khan (Pjb) bt Mubashir Munsif (KPK) 3-1 (17-60, 71-10, 51-12, 51-19); S M Imran (Sindh) bt Mubashir Khan (KPK) 3-1 (58-26, 42-53, 51-16, 75-47); Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) bt Abdul Aziz (Bal) 3-2 (78-47, 49-52, 58-23, 33-48, 71-29); Usman Ahmed (Pjb) bt Aqib Nawaz (Sindh) 3-0 (60-48, 60-34, 56-24); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Muhammad Rafiq (KPK) 3-2 (56-20, 60-14, 37-60, 9-60, 58-19); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Atif Arshad (KPK) 3-0 (70-33, 60-22, 51-30); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Yasir Nouman (Sindh) 3-0 (81-8, 62-20, 83-26).

Today’s fixtures:

(Pre-quarter-finals)

Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir (Pjb) v Abdul Aziz (Bal); Usman Ahmed (Pjb) v Rabish Pervaiz (Bal); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) v Umer Farooq (Pjb); Raees Ali Usama (Pjb) v Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) v Fahad Ghaffar (Isb); Ali Zaman Khan (Sindh) v Usman Khurshid (KPK); Shahzaib Malik (Pjb) v Muhammad Umar Khan (Pjb); Haris Tahir (Pjb) v Hamza Aftab (KPK).