NBP Ranking Snooker Three seeded cueists fail to reach pre-quarters

KARACHI: The seeded quintet of Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Bilal, Babar Masih, Majid Ali and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir reached the pre-quarter-finals of the NBP Ranking Snooker Championship as the preliminary round matches concluded here at the NBP Sports Complex on Thursday.

Three seeds, Ahsan Javaid, Sultan Muhammad and Ali Haider, failed to proceed. After reseedings, fresh draws were taken out for the knockout phase later in the evening. All the eight pre-quarter-finals, to be best-of-9-frame encounters, will take place on Friday (today).

In the morning session, due to start at 11am, top seed Asif will be pitted against Khurram Hussain Agha, Haris Tahir will be up against eighth seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, Aakash Rafique will lock horns with Muhammad Shahbaz and Muhammad Ijaz will take on Asif Toba.

The afternoon session, scheduled to start at 2:30 pm, will witness second seed Muhammad Bilal confronting Umair Alam, Rambail Gul meeting third seed Babar Masih, fourth seed Majid Ali taking on Sirbuland Khan and Sharjeel Mahmood trying his luck against Asjad Iqbal.

At the end of the league matches, top seed Asif emerged as the Group A champion with four victories in as many matches. Unseeded Sirbuland edged out Agha Bilawal on frame difference to clinch the runner-up spot.

Second seed Bilal also remained undefeated and topped the Group B. Unseeded Khurram finished as the runner-up with three points, knocking out Shahid Aftab, the 2009 champion.

Third seed Babar survived some anxious moments and won his last league fixture against Sohail Shahzad in the Group C which took him into the pre-quarters at the expense of the former with Ijaz claiming the runner-up slot.

Fourth seed Majid topped the Group D on frame difference, having been tied on points with Muhammad Shahbaz, who accompanied him in the last 16.

Fifth seed Ahsan was unable on make it to the next round as the unseeded duo of Aakash and Umair ended as the champion and the runner-up, respectively, in the Group E.

From the Group F, Toba and Rambail, both unseeded, progressed ahead leaving no space for sixth seed Sultan.

Seventh seed Ali Haider also found himself eliminated as the top two positions in the Group G were taken by unseeded Asjad Iqbal, the defending champion, and Haris.

Eighth seed Zulfiqar managed to become the Group H champion despite losing to Abdul Sattar in his last league fixture. Unseeded Sharjeel Mahmood, who also had three points, got the runner-up slot.

Results: Aamir Sohail (KP) bt Qadeer Abbas (Pjb) 4-1 (64-41, 29-64, 64-60, 73-54, 73-51); Muhammad Imran (KP) bt Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-3 (64-19, 65-46, 55-56, 54-42, 52-60, 39-57, 61-49); Rambail Gul (KP) bt Asif Toba (Pjb) 4-3 (9-66, 23-67, 66-7, 60-21, 28-72, 68-67, 69-34); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Mubashir Raza (Pjb) 4-2 (71-25, 58-4, 29-89, 0-67, 89-37, 60-42); Farhan Noor (Pjb) bt Usman Ahmad (Pjb) 4-2 (38-63, 69-36, 46-68, 71-08, 53-39, 75-21); Rashid Mahmood Abbasi (Isb) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-3 (60-36, 25-67, 61-64, 67-32, 61-37, 49-41); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) 4-3 (121-7, 89-16, 47-79, 63-23, 1-118, 55-63, 63-29); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Muhammad Umar (Pjb) 4-0 (63-20, 81-7, 54-21, 67-0); Aamir Sohail (KP) bt Musaddiq Mahmood (Isb) 4-0 (62-54, 68-16, 63-1, 51-7); Aakash Rafique (KP) bt Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-1 (73-14, 74-30, 66-26, 49-58, 68-1); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-3 (65-46, 72-18, 06-63, 66-41, 24-48, 37-67, 54-40); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Ali Haider (Pjb) 4-0 (91-10, 81-22, 108-12, 60-59); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (0-91, 34-58, 54-49, 29-65, 69-6, 69-1, 58-11); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-3 (5-71, 63-29, 31-53, 52-26, 18-63, 79-29, 74-64); Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Qadeer Abbas (Pjb) 4-2 (22-54, 75-13, 69-38, 63-16, 12-83, 56-53); Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (98-19, 24-75, 36-68, 95-14(75), 68-37, 61-54); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-3 (26-69, 57-18, 61-51, 7-85, 65-45, 13-69,74-64).