National Snooker Championship: 20 century breaks compiled in preliminary round

KARACHI: As many as 20 century breaks were compiled during the seven days of preliminary round matches of the Jubilee Insurance National Snooker Championship 2019 whose knockout rounds will be getting under way on Wednesday (today).

Third seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir of Sindh was the first to reach the landmark when he chalked up a break of 104 against Imran Shahzad on the opening day. Later the same afternoon eighth seed Rambail Gul of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) fired a break of 118 against Abdul Hameed.

Asjad Iqbal of Punjab registered a sensational break of 139, which remains the highest of the event so far, on the second day while taking on Rizwan Hashmi.

The same day Muhammad Ijaz, also from Punjab, hit centuries in successive frames, 129 and 137, against Aamir Sohail. His elder brother Muhammad Sajjad constructed a sterling break of 125 against Ameer Hamza Khan.

Seventh seed Shahid Aftab produced a break of 103, also against Ameer Hamza Khan, on the third day. It was followed by Abdul Sattar’s superlative break of 122 against Aamir Sohail.

Fourth seed Majid Ali of Punjab made a break of even hundred against Saif Ali Khan on the fourth day. Haris Tahir’s break of 104 came in a losing cause against Shafiullah.

Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir of Punjab blasted a break of 128 against Bahadur Khan which turned out to be the only century break of the fifth day.

Asjad Iqbal (127), Sohail Shahzad (106), Muhammad Ijaz (102) and Abdul Majid (100) did it on the penultimate day of the league matches.

Four more century breaks were witnessed on the seventh and last day with Muhammad Sajjad (108), Ahsan Javaid (114), Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (106) and Muhammad Asif (109) extending their fine form.

A total of 168 matches, spread over seven days, were contested by the 56 cueists who were divided in eight groups. The top two cueists from each group have progressed to the knockout phase.