Zulfiqar, Asif reach quarters as other seeded cueists crash out

KARACHI: After another flurry of upsets, Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir and Muhammad Asif were the only two seeded cueists to reach the quarter-finals of the 11th edition of NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2019, being played here at the NBP Sports Complex, on Wednesday.

Defending champion and sixth seed Muhammad Ijaz was dethroned in the pre-quarter-finals while second seed Asjad Iqbal also succumbed at the first knockout hurdle. Top seeded Muhammad Bilal, alongwith three other seeds, Ali Haider, Babar Masih and Agha Bilawal, had crashed before the knockout rounds.

All the four quarter-finals, to be best-of-nine-frame encounters, will be played simultaneously in the morning session, due to start at 10 am, on Thursday (today). Seven of the eight quarter-finalists hail from Punjab, reflecting the continued rise of cue sports in the biggest province of the country.

Third seed Zulfiqar Qadir, the lone cueist from Sindh to advance to the quarter-finals, will combat Ahsan Javaid, while seventh seed Muhammad Asif, a former world champion, will be taking on the dangerous Muhammad Shahbaz.

In the other quarter-finals, Muhammad Sajjad, making a strong comeback in the national circuit, will lock horns with Ahsan Ramzan. Naseem Akhtar, a former world junior champion, will be pitted against Mubashir Raza.

Ijaz, deprived of the title he had annexed last year with his giant-killing acts, was unable to get past seventh seed Muhammad Asif, who brought all his experience and skills into play to win the quarter-final tie quite leisurely.

Unseeded Naseem brought about the downfall of second seed Asjad, which could be described as one of the major upsets of the tournament, contested by the top 33 cueists of the country. Third seed Zulfiqar advanced into the quarter-finals by overpowering unseeded Abdul Sattar, also from Sindh.

Earlier in the morning, he had secured his place in the knockout phase by whacking Rambail Gul in straight frames which included an impressive break of 102 in the second frame. Majid Ali chalked up the highest break of the day (140) in a lost cause as he was routed by Shahbaz in another all-Punjab pre-quarter-final.

Ahsan also compiled a century break during the course of his 5-2 victory over Rashid Aziz in the pre-quarters.

Sajjad fired a century break in his last league outing.

League matches: Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Rambail Gul (KP) 4-0 (57-0, 133-0, 20-17, 1-0); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Aakash Rafique (KP) 4-2 (36-73, 57-50, 20-64, 65-22, 63-53, 75-64); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Ali Haider (Pjb) 4-1 (79-20, 68-61, 5-90, 64-9, 68-15); Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) 4-0 (116-11, 65-34, 71-25, 56-47).

Pre-quarter-finals: Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) bt Majid Ali (Pjb) 5-2 (17-97, 66-39, 0-140, 64-46, 67-60, 69-55, 66-0); Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) 5-2 (40-63, 62-48, 83-35, 0-128, 106-4, 66-57, 64-10); Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Rashid Aziz (Pjb) 5-2 (75-30, 1-60, 69-19, 80-18, 24-108, 64-12, 72-27); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 5-2 (82-0, 56-18, 54-73, 74-8, 129-0, 78-69); Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Haris Tahir (Pjb) 5-3 (87-0, 62-45, 100-13, 78-45, 27-75, 38-75, 11-102, 73-42); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 5-2 (30-63, 94-30, 97-26, 71-8, 67-18, 21-70, 74-6); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) 5-3 (64-57, 111-0, 44-58, 1-64, 1-69, 66-55, 74-47, 70-48); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 5-2 (74-27, 67-7, 64-1, 35-57, 0-62, 101-31, 67-42).