Seeded cueists off to winning starts at National Snooker C’ship

KARACHI: All the seeded cueists got off to a winning start in the Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020 which got underway here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday.

Eighth seed Muhammad Naseem Akhtar remained the closest to chalking up the first century break of the 11-day event as his break of 97 remained the highest on the opening day. He followed it up with another break of 70 a couple of frames later to topple Muhammad Yaqoob, a qualifier from Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KPK).

Top seed Muhammad Asif, who is also the reigning world champion, dropped a couple of frames before overpowering unseeded Muhammad Nazeer from Punjab. It included breaks of 75 and 52 in the fourth and sixth frames respectively.

Second seed and defending champion Muhammad Bilal came from behind to outwit Shariq Ali, a qualifier from Sindh, after a grueling seven-frame battle. The debutant Shariq also compiled a superb of 94 in the fifth frame to move 3-2 up but Bilal came back strongly to win the last couple of frames.

Third seed Asjad Iqbal staged a magnificent comeback to edge out unseeded Asif Toba after another fierce seven-frame duel. Asjad was looking down the barrel after losing the first three frames but bounced back with a break of 74 in the fourth frame and went on to win the next three frames as well to prevent an upset.

Fourth seed and a former champion Muhammad Sajjad encountered no problems whatsoever in whipping Muhammad Imran in straight frames, while fifth seed Sohail Shahzad had to bring all his reserve energy into play to overcome Ahsan Ramzan after trailing 1-3 in the best of seven frame encounter.

Sixth seed Muhammd Ijaz, like his elder brother Sajjad, was in total control of the situation, while blanking Obaid Khan in straight frames.

A total of 56 cueists, divided equally in eight groups, are contesting the preliminary rounds of the championship at the end of which the top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the knockout phase starting with pre-quarter-finals.

Results: Muhammad Bilal (SBP) bt Shariq Ali (Sindh) 4-3 (74-53, 18-61, 19-64, 86-27, 8-98, 82-27, 69-27); Muhammad Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Saad Khan (KPK) 4-1 (64-14, 77-5, 103-19, 7-53, 88-11); Aakash Rafique (KPK) bt Munawar Khaliq (Isb) 4-0 (Walk over); Muhammad Asif (NBP) bt Muhammad Nazeer (Pjb) 4-2 (38-77, 58-25, 47-65, 83-5, 83-5, 70-0, 65-1); Sheikh Muhammad Mudassir (SBP) bt Saqib Bashir (Bal) 4-2 (53-17, 70-2, 9-80, 58-45, 37-59, 90-0); Rambail Gul (KPK) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-3 (48-60, 46-74, 64-33, 62-29, 60-53, 15-66, 74-1); Muhammad Sajjad (NBP) bt Muhammad Imran (KPK) 4-0 (64-53, 89-42, 65-36, 54-52); Umar Farooq (Pjb) bt Meesam Zaidi (Sindh) 4-0 (70-17, 62-8, 63-54, 60-14); Bahadur Khan (Bal) bt Abdul Sattar Khan (Isb) 4-3 (65-95, 73-46, 61-29, 15-54, 63-50, 19-65, 72-21); Asjad Iqbal (NBP) bt Asif Toba (Pjb) 4-3 (50-74, 16-51, 28-51, 74-94, 60-8, 83-44, 58-44); Muhammad Umar Khan (Pjb) bt Muhammad Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 4-0 (58-25, 68-15, 78-41, 58-17); Ali Haider (SBP) bt Shan Naimat (Isb) 4-2 (64-31, 91-4, 35-58, 58-8, 38-62, 61-34); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Obaid Khan (Bal) 4-0 (108-3, 47-15, 68-28, 76-17); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Usman Ahmed (KPK) 4-0 (54-23, 51-16, 73-0, 52-32); Muhammad Saleem (KPK) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-2 (71-17, 88-3, 53-65, 13-63, 59-20, 72-38); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Ahsan Ramzan (SBP) 4-3 (52-68, 34-86, 77-56, 35-64, 67-54, 64-59, 53-42); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Haris Tahir (NBP) 4-0 (70-36, 51-43, 54-39, 77-20); Muhammad Naseem Akhtar (NBP) bt Muhammad Yaqoob (KPK) 4-0 (116-5, 83-6, 86-1, 65-42); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt Abdul Ghafoor (Bal) 4-0 (85-39, 68-15, 66-18, 67-22); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Ahmed Shah (Bal) 4-2 (58-50, 41-56, 101-6, 51-58, 66-10, 60-13).