Jubilee Insurance 43rd National Snooker Championship: By Mubashir, Khurram out, 10 cueists thru

KARACHI: Fifth seed Mubashir Raza and seventh seed Khurram Hussain Agha were eliminated as a total of 10 unseeded cueists, including wild card entrant, Muhammad Majid Ali, reached the knockout phase of the Jubilee Insurance 43rd National Snooker Championship 2018 whose preliminary round matches concluded here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

Top seed Asjad Iqbal, second seed Muhammad Asif, third seed Muhammad Bilal, fourth seed Shahid Aftab, sixth seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir and eighth seed Babaqr Masih forced their way into the pre-quarter-finals alongwith the unseeded lot of Ali Haider, Muhammad Naseem Akhtar, Agha Bilawal, Aakash Rafique, Muhammad Majid Ali, Qadeer Abbas, Muhammad Ahsan Javaid, Abdul Sattar, Sohail Shahzad and Sultan Muhammad.

All the eight pre-quarters will be contested on Sunday (today). In the morning session, due to start at 10 am, Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) will take on Qadeer Abbas (Pjb), Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) will lock horns with Shahid Aftab (Pjb), Naseem Akhtar (Pjb will be pitted against Ali Haider (Pjb) and Babar Masih (Pjb) will be up against Sohail Shahzad (Sindh).

In the afternoon session, scheduled to commence at 1 pm, Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) will be up against Muhammad Asif (Pjb), Aakash Rafique (KPK) will clash with Zulfiqar Qadir (Sindh), Majid Ali (Pjb) will combat Agha Bilawal (Sindh) and Abdul Sattar (Sindh) will be playing against Sultan Muhammad (Sindh).

At the end of the preliminary round matches, contested by 54 cueists, Asjad Iqbal and Ali Haider qualified to the knockout phase from the Group A, Naseem Akhtar and Muhammad Asif advanced from the Group B, Muhammad Bilal and Agha Bilawal cruised from the Group C while Aakash Rafique and Shahid Aftab qualified from the Group D. Majid Ali and Qadeer Abbas made it to the pre-quarters from the Group E, Ahsan Javaid and Zulfiqar Qadir progressed from the Group F, Abdul Sattar and Sohail Shahzad went through the Group G while Babar Masih and Sultan Muhammad moved ahead from the Group H.

Results:

Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-1 (71-90, 61-30, 55-25, 62-38, 65-10); Rambail Gul (KPK) bt Awaisullah Munir (Pjb) 4-3 (101-17, 58-48, 22-77, 20-52, 37-87, 60-43, 67-57); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Amir Shahzad (KPK) 4-2 (32-86, 27-68, 55-41, 72-31, 67-1, 86-0); Qadeer Abbas (Pjb) bt Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (56-66, 79-37, 64-19, 50-67, 62-12, 46-0); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Umair Alam (Sindh) 4-2 (72-39, 15-77, 14-63, 70-21, 65-23, 64-60); Ahmed Shah (Bal) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-1 (59-18, 32-72, 63-18, 82-24, 59-9); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Noman Javed (Isb) 4-1 (82-30, 75-11, 64-19, 16-45, 56-25); Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) bt Samiullah (Bal) 4-2 (62-8, 42-64, 35-67, 108-0, 87-10, 31-21); Ali Haider (Pjb) bt M Imran (KPK) 4-3 (18-65, 62-26, 22-62, 78-27, 50-43, 55-67, 68-39); Rashid Mahmood Abbasi (Isb) bt Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 4-0 (walkover); Aamir Sohail (KPK) bt Turyali Aziz (Bal) 4-1 (74-17, 62-37, 35-61, 75-30, 67-10); Farhan Noor (Pjb) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-1 (77-41, 69-10, 73-37, 35-63, 87-32); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt M Ishtaiq (Sindh) 4-1 (77-54, 78-49, 39-76(65), 129-0, 52-13); Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-2 (54-53, 11-81, 76-5, 64-37, 0-84, 61-33); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) 4-0 (79-38, 64-27, 70-62, 63-1); Majid Ali (Pjb) bt M Abdullah (KPK) 4-1 (57-66, 80-38, 78-23, 67-38, 65-31); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Saeed Ahmed (Bal) 4-0 (70-28, 54-2, 87-14, 50-16); M Sajjad (Pjb) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-3 (61-27, 60-46, 66-55, 5-70, 37-64, 38-66, 71-30); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt M Ijaz (Pjb) 4-3 (62-51, 33-60, 47-71, 69-23, 68-7, 29-61, 62-13); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) 4-2 (51-14, 2-55, 15-90, 66-26, 80-40, 52-14); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Sh Mudassir (Pjb) 4-2 (63-34, 63-16, 29-60, 58-9, 9-74, 55-41); M Asif (Pjb) bt M Umar (Pjb) 4-3 (22-68, 46-56, 24-72, 79-18, 132-0, 108-6, 64-9); M Bilal (Pjb) bt Usman Ahmad (Pjb) 4-0 (73-16, 53-45, 63-16, 63-34); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt M Shahbaz (Pjb) 4-1 (73-33, 67-20, 79-4, 59-65, 93-1); M Faizan (Sindh) bt Qadeer Abbas (Pjb) 4-2 (71-34, 56-52, 9-109, 59-52, 10-70, 102-89); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) 4-3 (58-26, 12-62, 69-47, 0-77, 67-49, 18-61, 69-24); Noman Javed (Isb) bt Samiullah (Bal) 4-1 (65-31, 71-11, 61-52, 33-49, 40-32); Ali Haider (Pjb) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-3 (70-51, 74-22, 49-61, 78-51, 45-60, 53-64, 82-65); Sarbuland Khan (KPK) bt Haris Nadeem (Sindh) 4-3 (69-21, 43-66, 16-64, 64-53, 59-25, 31-56, 72-6); Aamir Sohail (KPK) bt Abdul Javaid (Pjb) 4-3 (18-63, 57-45, 64-40, 9-63, 77-27, 60-77, 76-39); Farhan Noor (Pjb) bt Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) 4-1 (59-52, 64-10, 53-41, 44-74, 62-25).