Shahzad, Imran book pre-quarters berths

KARACHI: Holder Imran Shahzad and top seed Shahzad Butt, both from Punjab, were among the first six cueists to book their places in the pre-quarter-finals of the Jubilee Insurance 2nd National Masters (Over-40) Snooker Championship 2018 being held at the Champions Snooker Academy in Lahore.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) on Sunday, the Sindh duo of Faisal Rogatia and Maisam Zaidi also qualified for the knockout round, along with Saeed Ahmed of Balochistan and Shahid Shafiq of Punjab at the end of the second day of league matches.

The preliminary round matches will be concluding on Monday (today). There are 10 more slots for the pre-quarters up for the grabs. Muhammad Yousuf, a former world champion, continued to demonstrate his master class for the second day running. With two victories in as many games he has virtually assured himself of a spot in the last-16 stage.

Having registered the first century break of the event when he chalked up one of 110 on the opening day, Yousuf, the only Pakistani to have annexed the world open title as well as the world masters title, registered another solid break of 73 during his close battle with Fawad Hussain.

Defending champion Imran Shahzad and Khurram Hussain Agha also sparkled with breaks of 96 and 81, respectively, on Sunday.

Results: Saeed Ahmed (Bal) bt Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (75-26, 65-22, 56-42); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Saeed-ur-Rahman (KP) 3-1 (2-61, 96-0, 83-29, 54-43); Faisal Rogatia (Sindh) bt Manzoor Ahmed (Bal) 3-0 (51-18, 49-7, 56-31); Maisam Zaidi (Sindh) bt Muhammad Shahid (Pjb) 3-1 (38-52, 58-25, 67-39, 69-58); Muhammad Nadeem (Pjb) bt Qadeer Butt (Pjb) 3-1 (36-52, 79-24, 54-11, 53-9); Khawaja Rizwan (Pjb) bt Irfan Karim (KP) 3-0 (92-8, 50-12, 56-9); Rashid Mahmood (KP) bt Arshad Ali Qureshi (Ibd) 3-2 (41-57, 69-44, 44-55, 55-40, 65-35); Muhammad Yousuf Jr (Bal) bt Sunny Shahani (Sindh) 3-1 (47-5, 4-63, 50-38, 52-34); Shahzad Butt (Pjb) bt Zafar Iqbal (KP) 3-1 (66-56, 62-30, 52-63, 79-19); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Noor Hussain (Bal) 3-0 (81-0, 64-30, 64-1); Shahid Shafiq (Pjb) bt Noman Awan (Pjb) 3-0 (64-9, 46-9, 62-70); Saeed Bangulzai (Bal) bt Amanullah (KP) 3-2 (43-48, 64-37, 63-31, 15-62, 76-73); Naveen Kumar Perwani (Sindh) bt Haji Saqib (Bal) 3-0 (68-10, 84-2, 76-64); Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh) bt Fawad Hussain (Pjb) 3-2; (28-59, 72-49, 103-6, 49-61, 58-51).

Today’s Fixtures: Shadab Baig (Sindh) v Muhammad Nadeem (Pjb); Haji Saqib (Bal) v Khawaja Rizwan (Pjb); Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh) v Rashid Mehmood (KP); Atif Baig (Pjb) v Sunny Shahani (Sindh); Zafar Iqbal (KP) v Mukhtar Khan (Sindh); Noor Hussain (Bal) v Imran Shahzad (Pjb); Shahid Shafiq (Pjb) v Faisal Rogatia (Sindh); Amanullah (KP) v Muhammad Shahid (Pjb); Ahmed Naqvi (Ibd) v Qadeer Butt (Pjb); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) v Irfan Kareem (KP); Fawad Hussain (Pjb) v Arshad Ali Qureshi (Ibd); Mujtahid Ali Shah (KP) v Muhammad Yousuf Jr (Bal); Shahzad Butt (Pjb) v Saeed Ahmed (Bal); Khurram Agha (Sindh) v Saeed-ur-Rahman (KP); Noman Awan (Pjb) v Manzoor Ahmed (Bal); Saeed Bangulzai (Bal) v Maisam Zaidi (Sindh).