Majid, Bilal crash out of Ranking Snooker

Syed Khalid Mahmood

KARACHI: Third seed Muhammad Majid Ali and fourth seed Muhammad Bilal crashed in the preliminary rounds of the Jubilee Insurance Ranking Snooker Championship 2018 whose league matches concluded here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

Second seed Babar Masih remained only seeded cueist to stay unbeaten in the preliminary rounds as he also chalked up a superlative break of 104 during the course of his fifth successive victory. Top seeded and defending champion Muhammad Asif reached the quarter-finals by knocking out eighth seed Asjad Iqbal in a seven-frame thriller while sixth seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir sneaked into the last eight despite losing to third seed Majid Ali in the tensely fought last league outing.

Fifth seed Muhammad Ijaz, who had himself been eliminated from the event earlier after losing his first four games, caused the stunning ouster of fourth seed Muhammad Bilal by hammering him in their last league fixture.

After the flurry of upsets throughout the four days of preliminary rounds only three of the eight seeded cueists, Muhammad Asif, Babar Masih and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, managed to reach the quarter-finals alongwith the unseeded quintet of Shahid Aftab, Asif Toba, Rambail Gul, Sharjeel Mahmood and Haris Tahir. Reseeding was done at the end of the league matches in which Shahid Aftab, Babar Masih, Asif Toba and Rambail Gul shared the top four positions and their opponents for the quarter-finals were decided through draws held in the presence of all the qualifiers. Asif Toba, hailing from the city of Toba Tek Singh, emerged the Group A champion by winning all his five league matches while top seeded Muhammad Asif ended as runner-up and eighth seed Asjad Iqbal was relegated to fourth position in the points table.

Second seed Babar Masih, enjoying his best year in the national circuit, topped the Group B with five straight wins while Sharjeel Mahmood claimed the runner-up slot ahead of seventh seed Aakash Rafique, Muhammad Shahbaz and Khurram Hussain Agha. There was a three-horse race in the Group C between third seed Muhammad Majid Ali, sixth seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir and unseeded Rambail Gul with all of them winning three matches each. The top two positions were decided on the basis of frame difference, resulting in the exit of Majid Ali.

Unseeded Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, extended his brilliant form to win all his five matches and head the Group D. Both the seeded cueists of the group, M Bilal and M Ijaz, were eliminated and it was the young Haris Tahir who snatched the runner-up spot.

Results: Sirbuland Khan (KP) bt Asif Toba (Punjab) 4-3 (51-28, 34-58, 7-72, 70-28, 30-64, 61-33, 63-53); Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) bt M Shahbaz (Punjab) 4-3 (76-32, 73-13, 6-72, 70-39, 30-71, 36-66, 80-31); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt M Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) 4-3 (8-68, 11-77, 47-60, 78-50, 97-0, 65-41, 54-39); Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab) 4-2 (84-, 29-63, 45-55, 59-4, 77-1, 96-5); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-3 (63-36, 85-2, 86-39, 26-48, 32-74, 57-68, 104-1); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt M Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-3 (39-75, 42-72, 13-41, 55-44, 70-36, 70-17, 61-43); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Rambail Gul (KP) 4-1 (68-19, 54-62, 42-13, 51-10, 58-45); Haris Tahir (Punjab) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-3 (27-65, 46-75, 61-7, 74-1, 71-42, 30-56, 77-7); M Asif (Punjab) bt Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) 4-3 (12-62, 81-19, 31-67, 70-23, 11-93, 77-45, 24-20); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (KP) 4-1(67-28, 52-54, 68-32, 62-16, 110-20); Majid Ali (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-3 (110-11, 10-61, 30-62, 66-65, 75-36, 31-69, 66-42); M Ijaz (Punjab) bt M Bilal (Punjab) 4-1 (72-25, 43-06, 64-57, 29-65, 53-23); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (39-37, 5-60, 66-39, 54-44, 10-65, 33-66, 53-31).