Mubashar off to flying start in National Snooker

KARACHI: Fifth seed Mubashar Raza, by pocketing both his matches, stole the limelight while sixth seed M Naseem Akhtar and eighth seed M Ahsan Javaid succumbed to defeat at the hands of unseeded opponents on the opening day of the 3rd Jubilee Insurance National Ranking Snooker Championship 2019 which cued off here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

The other seeds, M Asif, Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, Asjad Iqbal, M Bilal and M Ijaz, got off to a winning start as did the defending champion, Babar Masih.

Mubashar Raza, hailing from Lahore, got off to a flying start to the competition as he overwhelmed Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, 4-1 in the morning session. Later in the afternoon, he blanked the young and promising M Hamza Ilyas in straight frames which included exciting breaks of 68 and 69 in successive frames.

Unseeded Abdul Sattar proved too good for sixth seed M Naseem Akhtar, a former World Under-18 champion, trouncing him in straight frames while the veteran Imran Shahzad edged out eighth seed M Ahsan Javaid 4-2 after an absorbing duel.

Top seeded M Asif, a former world champion, prevailed over the teenaged Shaikh M Mudassir 4-1 while second seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir overcame the dangerous Sultan Muhammad by the identical scoreline. Third seed Asjad Iqbal whipped unseeded Agha Bilawal in straight frames while fourth seed M Bilal, the reigning national champion, began his campaign with 4-0 win over Muhammad Hamza Ilyas.

Sixth seed M Ijaz was made to work hard to earn 4-2 win over the vastly experienced Abu Saim while Babar Masih started the defence of his title with a crushing straight-frame win over Haris Tahir. With the last minute withdrawal of Rambail Gul, who was unable to travel from Khyber Pakhtumkhwa due to illness, the event is now being contested by 25 cueists, 20 of whom belong to Punjab and the remaining five are from Sindh. Besides the top 23 ranked cueists of the country the National Under-16 champion, M Hamza Ilyas, and the National Under-18 champion, Shaikh M Mudassir, are taking part in event.

Results: M Bilal (Pjb) bt M Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) 4-0 (48-43, 77-0, 65-2, 76-0); Mubashar Raza (Pjb) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-1 (58-9, 15-64, 66-0, 62-6, 43-22); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Rashid Aziz (Pjb) 4-2 (56-44, 25-52, 56-69, 61-25, 93-1, 67-43); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-1 (46-57, 75-48, 66-60, 60-39, 76-7); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-0 (68-34, 64-11, 57-20, 78-27); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt M Naseem Akhar (Pjb) 4-0 (56-39, 88-0, 57-4, 91-4); M Majid Ali (Pjb) bt M Shahbaz (Pjb) 4-1 (67-14, 63-56, 8-69, 57-81, 16-58); M Ijaz (Pjb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-2 (92-24, 41-72, 19-66, 80-14, 94-6, 73-0); M Asif (Pjb) bt Shaikh M Mudassir (Pjb) 4-1 (70-66, 75-28, 39-81, 78-34, 71-8); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt M Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-2 (47-59, 82-37, 62-0, 30-67, 76-56, 70-1); M Sajjad (Pjb) bt Ali Haider (Pjb) 4-2 (73-27, 41-70, 59-38, 58-43, 53-78, 49-37); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Haris Tahir (Pjb) 4-0 (74-56, 101-4, 59-14, 68-0); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt M Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (81-11, 68-53, 0-102, 30-82, 75-19, 65-23); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt M Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) 4-0 (69-57, 89-21, 93-4, 73-19).