Unseeded Ahsan downs Sharjeel in National Snooker

KARACHI: Unseeded Ahsan Javaid upstaged sixth seed Sharjeel Mahmood while Muhammad Ijaz, also unseeded, chalked up back to back century breaks on the second day of league matches of the Jubilee Insurance 44th National Snooker Championship 2019 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.

Top seeded Babar Masih, third seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, fourth seed Muhammad Majid Ali, fifth seed Muhammad Bilal and seventh seed Shahid Aftab succeeded in extending their unbeaten run while second seed Asif, who is also the defending champion, opened his account in the second outing after 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 second day (139), which also remains the highest of the competition so far.

Ahsan Javaid, hailing from Punjab, staged a magnificent recovery after being 1-3 down against Sharjeel Mahmood of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to win the best of seven-frame encounter 4-3 which caused an upset. Muhammad Ijaz, belong to Punjab’s city of Sargodha, came up with sterling performance against Aamir Sohail of KPK. After narrowly 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 total supremacy over his rival.

His elder and the more illustrious brother, Muhammad Sajjad, two-time national champion and a former world number two, also emerged triumphant in his game rather leisurely signing off with an imperious break of 125 against Ameer Hamza Khan of Islamabad. The reigning Under-16 champion, Muhammad 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 second day running but he was undone by the high-flying wild card entrant Mubashir Raza, who extended his purple patch after having toppled the defending champion on the opening day. Muhammad Shahbaz, the other wild card entrant, also got off the mark in the competition by prevailing over Muhammad Mudassir of Islamabad. A total of 56 cueists, divided equally in eight groups, are contesting the preliminary rounds whose matches will continue for five more days at the end of which the top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the knockout phase, beginning from 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 Farukh 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).