3rd Jubilee Insurance Ranking Snooker C’ship 2019

Babar, Haris, Sajjad outplay opponents

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

KARACHI: Holder Babar Masih overpowered second seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir while the unseeded duo of Haris Tahir and Muhammad Sajjad outwitted seventh seed Muhammad Ijaz and eighth seed Muhammad Ahsan Javaid respectively on the third day of the 3rd Jubilee Insurance Ranking Snooker Championship 2019 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

Babar, having been at the receiving end a day earlier, returned to top form and it was the turn of Zulfiqar to face the music for the second day running. The defending champion fired a scintillating break of 113 in the fourth frame and settled the issue with another fluent break of 71 in the sixth frame. Haris displayed great resilience in overcoming seventh seed Ijaz after a tense duel which went to the full distance of seven frames. He fought his way back after conceding the first couple of frames. He faced bigger threat of losing the game after going down in the fourth frame but he played remarkably well under pressure to claim the next three frames on a trot to emerge triumphant. Ijaz’s brother, Sajjad, enjoyed better luck on the table as the three-time former national champion won the seven-frame thriller against eighth seed Ahsan after a grueling battle.

It was Sajjad’s third victory in four outings and placed him at the top of the points table in the Group A. Top seeded Muhammad Asif and the unseeded duo of Imran Shahzad and Shaikh M Mudassir share the second position with eighth seed Ahsan languishing at fifth position among six participants.

As many as four cueists, Haris Tahir, Muhammad Ijaz, Babar Masih and Abu Saim share the top position in the Group B, all of them having won two matches each, pushing second seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir to fifth place.

Third seed Asjad Iqbal remains unbeaten in the Group C with three straight victories while unseeded Abdul Sattar has also won three matches besides losing one. Sixth seed M Naseem Akhtar and unseeded Muhammad Majid Ali are also in the hunt for a place in the quarter-finals with two victories each.

Fourth seed Muhammad Bilal and fifth seed Mubashir Raza seem virtually assured of their spots in the knockout rounds after having won four matches each in the Group D making it increasingly difficult for the likes of the Shahid Aftab and Sohail Shahzad to catch up.

The preliminary round matches will be concluding on Tuesday (tomorrow) with top two cueists from each of the four groups to advance into quarter-finals which will be held later the same day.

Both the semifinals are scheduled to be held on Wednesday while the best-of-13 frame final, to be followed by the prize distribution ceremony, set to take place on Thursday.

Results: Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-2 (32-68, 66-51, 75-9, 135-0, 30-71, 71-10); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) 4-3 (10-75, 31-59, 88-57, 8-86, 62-2, 53-37, 61-39); Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Muhammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-3 (7-77, 46-32, 1-65, 74-4, 68-19, 65-67, 66-44); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-2 (0-76, 56-1, 63-52, 58-57, 36-76, 62-31); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Rashid Aziz (Pjb) 4-2 (82-13, 63-18, 57-62, 56-14, 1-97, 75-49); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Muhammad Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) 4-2 (71-35, 68-41, 23-68, 43-72, 75-27, 70-58); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) 4-1 (60-2, 92-9, 50-61, 78-9, 65-32); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Muhammad Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-1 (86-14, 41-22, 42-78, 53-23, 57-26); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-2 (50-80, 82-01, 61-11, 57-20, 34-74, 75-5); Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Ali Haider (Pjb) 4-3 (30-65, 27-60, 80-09, 63-68, 63-0, 100-0, 92-5); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 4-3 (54-8, 45-51, 69-21, 64-70, 63-67, 61-23, 73-34); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Haris Tahir (Pjb) 4-2 (67-35, 54-38, 27-85, 67-29, 64-34, 120-1).