National Masters Snooker: Five Sindh cueists reach pre-quarters

KARACHI: As many as nine cueists from Punjab and five from Sindh reached the pre-quarter-finals of the Jubilee Insurance 2nd National Masters (Over-40) Snooker Championship 2018 whose preliminary round matches concluded at the Champions Snooker Academy in Lahore on Monday.

According to the details made available by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), the Sindh quintet of Khurram Hussain Agha, Naveen Kumar Perwani, Muhammad Yousuf, Maisam Zaidi and Faisal Rogatia forced their way into the last-16 alongwith the Punjab contingent of Shahzad Butt, Imran Shahzad, Shahzad Shafiq, Muhammad Shahid, Muhammad Nadeem, Qadeer Butt, Khawaja Rizwan, Fawad Hussain and Atif Baig.

Mujtahid Ali Shah was the lone qualifier from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while Saeed Ahmed was the only pre-quarter-finalist from Balochistan. None from Islamabad managed to advance.Top seed Shahzad Butt and unseeded Saeed Ahmed forced their way into the last-16 from the Group A, while second Khurram Agha and defending champion Imran Shahzad shared the top two slots in the Group B.

Shahzad Shafiq and Faisal Rogatia progressed from the Group C, Maisam Zadi and Muhammad Shahid came out triumphant from the Group D, while Muhammad Nadeem and Qadeer Butt moved to the knockout phase from the Group E.

Naveen Perwani and Khawaja Rizwan ran away with the top honours in the Group F, Fawad Hussain and Muhammad Yousuf did it from the Group G, while Atif Baig and Mujtahid Ali topped the Group H.

All the eight pre-quarter-finals, to be spread over a couple of sessions, will be played on Tuesday (today). The first session is due to start at 11 am and the second at 1:30 pm.

Results: Shadab Baig (Sindh) bt Muhammad Nadeem (Pjb) 3-1 (62-43, 55-8, 38-50, 61-16); Khawaja Rizwan (Pjb) bt Haji Saqib (Bal) 3-0 (55-32, 66-32, 78-6); Rashid Mahmood (KP) bt Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh) 3-1 (61-46, 63-25, 40-57, 96-0); Atif Baig (Pjb) bt Sunny Shahani (Sindh) 3-2 (61-13, 47-35, 52-58, 44-48, 78-20); Zafar Iqbal (KP) bt Mukhtar Khan (Sindh) 3-0 (49-36, 63-17, 1-0); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Noor Hussain (Bal) 3-0 (77-6, 74-3, 79-8); Shahid Shafiq (Pjb) bt Faisal Rogatia (Sindh) 3-2 (54-17, 11-77, 68-6, 28-43, 63-42); Muhammad Shahid (Pjb) bt Amanullah (KP) 3-0 (94-0, 58-32, 41-14); Qadeer Butt (Pjb) bt Ahmed Naqvi (Ibd) 3-0 (68-16, 62-22, 62-25); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Irfan Karim (KP) 3-1 (1-0, 28-60, 58-33, 47-38); Fawad Hussain (Pjb) bt Arshad Ali Qureshi (Ibd) 3-2 (66-21, 21-75, 30-65, 63-62, 67-37); Mujtahid Ali (KP) bt Muhammad Yousuf Jr (Bal) 3-1 (0-1, 80-43, 69-2, 47-19); Shahzad Butt (Pjb) bt Saeed Ahmed (Bal) 3-0 (67-17, 68-9, 54-53); Saeed-ur-Rahman (KP) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 3-0 (63-52, 58-45, 57-20); Noman Awan (Pjb) bt Manzoor Ahmed (Bal) 3-1 (58-26, 82-20, 50-61, 51-13); Maisam Zaidi (Sindh) bt Saeed Bangulzai (Bal) 3-0 (80-19, 62-43, 54-17).

Pre-quarter-finals: Maisam Zaidi (Sindh) v Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh); Muhammad Nadeem (Pjb) v Saeed Ahmed (Bal); Atif Baig (Pjb) v Faisal Rogatia (Sindh); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) v Khawaja Rizwan (Pjb); Shahzad Butt (Pjb) v Khurram Agha (Sindh); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) v Muhammad Shahid (Pjb); Mujtahid Ali (KP) v Fawad Hussain (Pjb); Shahzad Shafiq (Pjb) v Qadeer Butt (Pjb).