Seeded players lose in NBP Ranking Snooker

KARACHI: The seeded quartet of Babar Masih, Muhammad Majid Ali, Muhammad Ahsan Javaid and Ali Haider suffered defeats on the opening day of the 10th edition of NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2018 which cued off here at the NBP Sports Complex on Sunday.

The other four seeds Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Bilal, Sultan Muhammad and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, however, got off to a winning start in the competition being contested by 40 cueists, having been divided equally in eight groups for the preliminary rounds. Imran Shahzad, a veteran, blew the whistle on third seed Babar by toppling him in straight frames while Muhammad Shahbaz shocked fourth seed Majid after a tense six-frame battle.

Fifth seed Ahsan went down fighting to Umair Alam after six frames while seventh seed Ali Haider was undone by Abdul Javaid after yet another six-frame duel.Top seeded Asif, a former world champion, showed his master class by whacking Sirbuland Khan in frames while second seed Bilal didn’t encounter much problems in disposing of Mudassir.

Sixth seed Sultan survived some anxious moments before overpowering Abdullah 4-2 while eighth seed Zulfiqar was stretched to his fullest means by Sharjeel Mahmood in a seven-frame thriller. In the other matches of significance, Shahid Aftab blanked Muhammad Sajjad, a former world number two, in straight frames while Asif Toba meted out similar treatment to M Naseem Akhtar, hailed as the wonder boy of Pakistan snooker after his accomplishments at the Under-18 level. Meanwhile Agha Bilawal was the beneficiary of a lifeline granted to him by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA). He was asked to forfeit his match against Ian Mark John by the Tournament Director, Naved Kapadia, after being charged of smoking in the arena. He was leading 3-2 when the incident occurred during the sixth frame.

At a later stage the PBSA officials decided to penalize him only for one frame in which he was found guilty of smoking. He edged out his rival in the specially arranged seventh frame to win the match, which he was notified to have lost.

Results: Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Sirbuland Khan (KP) 4-0 (131-0, 79-22, 71-26, 81-54);

Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Shaikh Mudassir (Pjb) 4-1 (64-7, 49-73, 68-28, 58-55, 78-15); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Babar Masih (Pjb) 4-0 (68-24, 64-17, 70-52, 72-55); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Muhammad Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (67-23, 7-65, 69-61, 52-44, 28-99, 56-28); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Muhammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-2 (74-11, 68-0, 0-87, 58-28, 51-65, 74-35); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Abdullah (KP) 4-2 (48-58, 71-27, 54-42, 62-49, 49-61, 73-6); Abdul Javaid (Pjb) bt Ali Haider (Pjb) 4-2 (28-81, 52-73, 74-9, 68-47, 65-26, 50-22); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) 4-3 (47-62, 69-25, 31-63, 66-63, 71-13, 75-63, 66-45); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-3 (45-75, 57-21, 72-16, 0-121, 71-46, 0-1, 58-51); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) 4-0 (89-6, 83-22, 54-28, 57-48); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Muhammad Umar (Pjb) 4-1 (72-10, 71-59, 54-53, 59-90, 76-35); Musaddiq Mahmood (Isb) bt Qadeer Abbas (Pjb) 4-2 (70-28, 24-75, 77-15, 71-34, 14-70, 61-58); Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-2 (56-41, 31-71, 70-29, 27-63, 80-40, 66-25); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) 4-0 (66-22, 77-16, 61-0, 49-2); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Haris Tahir (Pjb) 4-2 (41-73, 71-0, 66-1, 6-83, 68-5, 58-51); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Usman Ahmad (Pjb) 4-2 (62-29, 2-83, 31-74, 67-22, 78-31, 22-56).