Jubilee Insurance 2nd National Masters Snooker C’ship 2018: Punjab, Sindh cueists dominate pre-quarters stage

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, M Yousuf, Maisam Zaidi and Faisal Rogatia forced their way into the last 16 alongwith the Punjab contingent of Shahzad Butt, Imran Shahzad, Shahzad Shafiq, M Shahid, M Nadeem, Qadeer Butt, Khawaja Rizwan, Fawad Hussain and M Atif Baig.

Mujtahid Ali Shah was the lone qualifier from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Saeed Ahmed was the only pre-quarter-finalist from Balochistan with no one from Islamabad going beyond the first round.

A total of 32 cueists, divided equally in eight groups, contested the preliminary rounds of the championship being organized by the PBSA with the collaboration of Jubilee Insurance Ltd. The top two cueists from each group advanced to the pre-quarters.

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 M Shahid came out trumps 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 M Atif Baig and Mujtahid Ali Shah cleared 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 with the second one to follow at 1.30 pm.

Results:

Shadab Baig (Sindh) bt M 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 (KPK) bt Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh) 3-1 (61-46, 63-25, 40-57, 96-0); M Atif Baig (Pjb) bt Sunny Shahani (Sindh) 3-2 (61-13, 47-35, 52-58, 44-48, 78-20); Zafar Iqbal (KPK) 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); M Shahid (Pjb) bt Amanullah (KPK) 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 (KPK) 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 Shah (KPK) bt M 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 (KPK) 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).

Today’s fixtures (Pre-quarter-finals):

Maisam Zaidi (Sindh) v M Yousuf (Sindh); M Nadeem (Pjb) v Saeed Ahmed (Bal); M 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 M Shahid (Pjb); Mujtahid Ali Shah (KPK) v Fawad Hussain (Pjb); Shahzad Shafiq (Pjb) v Qadeer Butt (Pjb).