Ahsan stuns reigning national champion Bilal

KARACHI: Schoolboy Ahsan Ramzan stunned the reigning national champion Muhammad Bilal on the penultimate day of league matches of the 3rd Jubilee Insurance Ranking Snooker Championship 2019 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Monday.

The 14-year-old Ahsan, a class VIII student from Lahore, played exceptionally well to topple Bilal, regarded as one the most accomplished cueists of the country. The teenager signed off with a superb break of 80 to complete an incredible 4-1 victory.

Defending champion Babar Masih became the first one to qualify for the quarter-finals and he was soon followed by unseeded Abdul Sattar and seventh seed Muhammad Ijaz.

The other five quarter-finalists will be decided on the last day of league matches to be played in the morning session on Tuesday (today).

Draws will be taken out in the presence of the participating cueists for the knockout rounds and the quarter-finals will commence simultaneously in the afternoon. Both the semi-finals will take place on Wednesday (tomorrow) and the final will be held on Thursday.

There’s an interesting three-horse race between top seeded Muhammad Asif, eighth seed Ahsan Javaid and three-time national champion Muhammad Sajjad to determine the two quarter-finalists from the Group A with virtually no chance left for the dangerous duo of Imran Shahzad and Shaikh Mudassir.

As seventh seed Muhammad Ijaz and defending champion Babar Masih have claimed the quarter-final berths from the Group B, Haris Tahir and Abu Saim faced early elimination. Second seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir was not even in the race after having lost three of his four matches.

Unseeded Abdul Sattar has played extraordinary well in the Group C to qualify for the knockout rounds which means one of third seed Asjad Iqbal and sixth seed Naseem Akhtar, who will be engaged in the do-or-die encounter today, will be going home early.

There’s an equally interesting situation in the Group D in which fourth seed Muhammad Bilal, fifth seed Mubashir Raza and unseeded Sohail Shahzad are battling for the two places. Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, is out of the race.

Results: Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) 4-1 (15-65, 64-52, 55-21, 58-13, 80-0); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Mubashir Raza (Pjb) 4-3 (11-68, 61-14, 77-29(54), 115-0, 40-57, 31-73, 57-28); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Rashid Aziz (Pjb) 4-0 (57-36, 66-58, 61-9, 59-1); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-0 (82-12, 80-15, 72-36, 86-1); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (15-102, 89-2, 68-61, 114-4, 26-63, 68-9); Naseem Akhtar (Pjb) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-1 (12-67, 134-0, 71-61, 68-45, 53-40); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Muhammad Shahbaz (Pjb) 4-1 (75-47, 63-31, 61-37, 15-89, 60-40); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-0 (82-0, 76-6, 79-16, 58-22); Muhammad Asif (Pjb) bt Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) 4-2 (94-27, 69-9, 102-12, 23-105, 27-60, 68-6); Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Sheikh Mudassir (Pjb) 4-2 (64-55, 62-69, 65-15, 70-31, 72-60); Ali Haider (Pjb) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-2 (75-25, 8-67, 69-7, 62-61, 43-61, 79-55); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-1 (63-18, 130-8, 85-24, 45-72, 96-20); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) 4-0 (67-30, 69-34, 58-15, 60-8); Sheikh Mudassir (Pjb) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-3 (58-55, 58-15, 66-32, 17-70, 65-66, 62-73, 70-46); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-2 (88-21, 84-49, 24-72, 58-66, 91-14, 133-8); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) 4-1 (17-73, 55-47, 79-1, 68-8, 55-1); Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) bt Rashid Aziz (Pjb) 4-3 (53-58, 50-49, 67-15, 37-62, 37-69, 58-36, 56-38).