Unseeded Ahsan upstages sixth seed Sharjeel

KARACHI: Unseeded Ahsan Javaid upstaged sixth seed Sharjeel Mahmood on the second day of league matches of the Jubilee Insurance National Snooker Championship here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday, while Muhammad Ijaz, also unseeded, chalked up back-to-back century breaks.

Top seeded Babar Masih, third seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, fourth seed Majid Ali, fifth seed Muhammad Bilal and seventh seed Shahid Aftab extended their unbeaten run. Second seed Asif, the defending champion, opened his account in his second outing, having been stunned in his first match on the opening day.

It was the unseeded Asjad Iqbal, however, who registered the biggest break of the day (139).

Ahsan, hailing from Punjab, staged a magnificent recovery after being 1-3 down against Sharjeel of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to win the best-of-seven-frame encounter 4-3.

Ijaz, from Sargodha, came up with a sterling performance against Aamir Sohail of KP. After missing a century break by a whisker in the opening frame, he constructed breaks of 129 and 137 during the next couple of frames to establish his supremacy over his rival.

His elder and the more illustrious brother, Muhammad Sajjad, two-time national champion and a former world number two, defeated Ameer Hamza Khan of Islamabad rather leisurely, signing off with an imperious break of 125.

The reigning under-16 champion Hamza Ilyas, having rewritten history books by making his debut in the National Snooker Championship at the age of 13 years and 212 days, was the centre of attraction for the second day running but he was undone by the high-flying wildcard entrant Mubashir Raza, who extended his purple patch, having toppled the defending champion on the opening day.

Muhammad Shahbaz, the other wildcard entrant, also got off the mark in the competition by prevailing over Muhammad Mudassir of Islamabad.

A total of 56 cueists, divided in eight groups, are contesting the preliminary rounds which will continue for five more days at the end of which the top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the pre-quarter-finals.

Results: Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Ahmed Shah (Bal) 4-0 (77-11, 80-5, 74-39, 70-57); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) 4-0 (71-23, 71-37, 92-26, 65-15); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 4-1 (20-63, 139-0, 85-46, 70-26, 69-63); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) 4-0 (117-0, 74-29, 72-52, 60-8); Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Muhammad Mudassir (Isb) 4-2 (60-38, 45-69, 38-71, 59-16, 91-0, 79-74); Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh) bt Farhan Khan (KP) 4-1 (70-77, 49-38, 72-43, 54-47, 60-54); Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Imran Qamar (Pjb) 4-3 (33-75, 75-5, 72-11, 0-88, 35-70, 89-7); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-0 (walkover); Saif Ali Khan (Bal) bt Abdul Jalil (KP) 4-1 (56-12, 28-47, 52-41, 57-39, 58-30); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Fawad Khan (KP) 4-1 (66-60, 58-22, 60-22, 37-75, 75-41); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Shaikh Mudassir (Pjb) 4-2 (30-102, 62-28, 36-88, 132-0, 74-36-, 50-41); Musaddiq Mahmood (Isb) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-1 (78-17, 55-24, 51-49, 59-62, 74-37); Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) 4-3 (17-80, 65-53, 53-67, 1-54, 68-33, 67-46, 47-33); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-3 (11-54, 17-116, 75-16, 74-36, 48-64, 75-7, 70-13); Abdul Majid (Sindh) bt Saeed Khan (Bal) 4-1 (12-97, 55-44, 71-1, 50-26, 58-28); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-1 (35-64, 72-28, 93-22, 72-04, 73-0); Ali Haider (Pjb) bt Rashid Aziz (Pjb) 4-3 (77-22, 18-72, 46-59, 51-64, 74-0, 63-23, 76-55); Mirza Waqas Baig (Punjab) bt Muhammad Saleem (KP) 4-0 (63-2, 66-40, 57-19, 75-52); Aakash Rafique (KP) bt Abdul Hameed (Bal) 4-0 (87-0, 58-19, 75-15, 58-8); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Munawar Khaliq (Isb) 4-1 (33-67, 78-16, 90-9, 62-37, 70-37); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Habib Shah (Bal) 4-0 (61-10, 75-2, 76-1(76), 76-25); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Aamir Sohail (KP) 4-0 (86-0, 129-0, 137-0, 76-16); Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Ameer Hamza Khan (Isb) 4-1 (66-46, 84-1, 65-47, 16-62, 125-1); Rambail Gul (KP) bt Abdul Hameed (Bal) 4-0 (68-22, 126-1, 70-37, 63-32); Aakash Rafique (KP) bt Aamir Shahzad (KP) 4-3 (59-36, 68-65, 19-76, 55-47, 31-55, 40-48, 63-26); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Abu Saim (Punjab) 4-1 (74-40, 67-44, 42-66, 81-48, 68-17); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Habib Shah (Bal) 4-0 (75-26, 86-8, 107-8, 58-26); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Ameer Hamza Khan (Isb) 4-2 (10-68, 20-60, 63-31, 75-01, 72-40, 93-18).