Seeded quartet crashes out of Ranking Snooker C’ship

KARACHI: Four of the eight seeds crashed on the penultimate day of preliminary round matches of the 11th edition of NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2019 here at the NBP Sports Complex on Tuesday.

In a remarkable twist of events, following a series of upsets during the last couple of days, the seeded quartet of Mohammad Bilal, Ali Haider, Babar Masih and Agha Bilawal made an early exit from the competition.

Asjad Iqbal, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Ijaz were the only three seeds to have confirmed their spots in the knockout phase while Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir’s fate will be decided after the remaining league matches on Wednesday (today).

In the last four league matches, due to commence simultaneously at 10 am, Zulfiqar Qadir will take on Rambail Gul, Abu Saim will be pitted against Aakash Rafique, Ali Haider will confront Shahid Aftab and Mohammad Shahbaz will lock horns with Mohammad Sajjad.

Upon the conclusion of the preliminary round matches at around noon, the draws for the knockout phase will be taken out in the presence of the qualifiers. The opening session of the pre-quarter-finals is due to start at 12:30 pm and it will be followed by the second session, beginning at 2:30 pm.

The unseeded duo of Mohammad Majid Ali and Ahsan Ramzan has qualified for the pre-quarters from the Group A, leaving no space for top seeded Mohammad Bilal, also the reigning national champion.

Second seed Asjad Iqbal has secured his place into the last 16 from the Group B, alongwith unseeded Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, which meant early elimination of the veteran Imran Shahzad.

Third seed Zulfiqar Qadir is very much in the hunt for a place in the pre-quarters from the Group C but fourth seed Ali Haider has made early exit with the unseeded duo of Mohammad Sajjad and Mohammad Shahbaz sharing top two slots in the Group D.

Fifth seed Babar Masih is also out of the event as the unseeded Rashid Aziz and Haris Tahir have grabbed the top two positions in the Group E. Sixth seed and defending champion Mohammad Ijaz has moved into the knockout rounds, alongwith Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, from the Group F.

Seventh seed Mohammad Asif has qualified from the Group G, in the company of Mubashir Raza, but eighth seed Agha Bilawal was routed in the Group H where the top two positions have been shared by the unseeded duo of Sohail Shahzad and Abdul Sattar.

Results: Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-1 (29-58, 48-29, 64-44, 65-45, 88-8); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Abdul Raziq (Bal) 4-0 (72-44, 64-33, 66-40, 56-2); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-1 (67-52, 73-40, 14-84, 77-55, 68-26); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (115-9, 21-64, 78-36, 71-26, 43-66, 113-9); Aamir Tariq (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (50-65, 66-35, 9-70, 41-68, 71-36, 79-31, 79-28); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) 4-0 (82-17, 73-44, 96-0, 89-1); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 4-0 (82-36, 65-5, 73-38, 72-37); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Babar Masih (Pjb) 4-2 (73-31, 114-1, 9-57, 60-32, 11-65, 54-40); Rashid Aziz (Pjb) bt Imran Qamar (Pjb) 4-0 (48-46, 90-9, 79-1, 68-66); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) 4-3 (22-78, 56-54, 84-23, 22-80, 74-57, 30-71, 63-15); Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) bt Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb) 4-0 (75-1, 86-37, 62-5, 61-16); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-3 (31-58, 83-6, 30-72, 14-57, 70-36, 55-52, 78-29); Aakash Rafique (KPK) bt Rambail Gul (KPK) 4-1 (72-30, 73-31, 71-65, 42-68, 79-12); Mohammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Ali Haider (Pjb) 4-3 (93-47, 43-65, 82-54, 54-81, 16-78, 66-7, 65-1); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-3 (61-15, 45-85, 58-55, 29-59, 62-33, 45-64, 75-51); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) 4-0 (60-50, 61-54, 55-17, 64-54); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Abdul Raziq (Bal) 4-0 (69-16, 98-23, 105-13, 64-0); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) 4-3 (40-65, 27-76, 1-84, 58-5, 73-1, 69-43, 60-49); Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Mohammad Mudassir (Isb) 4-0 (92-47, 73-15, 75-23, 64-30).