45th National Snooker Championship 2020: KP’s Saad stuns Bilal

KARACHI: Saad Khan, a qualifier from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stunned second seed M Bilal while eighth seed M Naseem Akhtar was surprised by unseeded Mubashir Raza on the last day of preliminary round matches of the Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday.

All the eight pre quarter-finals, to be spread over two sessions, will be contested on Sunday (today). In the morning session, due to start at 10 am, M Ijaz will be pitted against Ali Haider, M Ahsan Javaid will lock horns with M Sajjad, Mubashir Raza will clash with Rambail Gul and Shahid Aftab will be up against Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir while in the afternoon session, scheduled to commence at 1 pm, Babar Masih will take on M Saleem, M Asif will meet M Bilal, Hamza Akbar will confront M Naseem Akhtar and Asjad Iqbal will tackle Sohail Shahzad. Top seeded M Asif, also the reigning world champion, topped the Group A with a maximum of six points while unseeded Rambail Gul claimed the runner-up slot ahead of Shaikh M Mudassir and Jawed Ansari.

Second seed and defending champion M Bilal, after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of qualifier Saad Khan, had to be content with the runner-up position in the Group B in which M Ahsan Jawaid finished on top of the tree.

Third seed Asjad Iqbal, with six straight victories, emerged as Group C champion where Ali Haider secured the runner-up position.

Fourth seeded M Sajjad was relegated to the runner-up spot in the Group D which was topped by unseeded Hmaza Akbar, returning to the national circuit after five years.

Fifth seed Sohail Shahzad forced his way into the pre-quarter-finals from the Group E which was topped by unseeded Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, who won all his six league matches.

Sixth seed M Ijaz, by winning all his six games, became the Group F champion in which M Saleem secured the runner-up slot after elbowing out Abdul Sattar and M Ajmal.

Seventh seed Babar Masih topped the Group G by overpowering unseeded Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, who had to to be content with runner-up position. Eighth seed M Naseem Akhtar became the Group H champion despite having lost his last league fixture against unseeded Mubashir Raza, who claimed other pre-quarter slot.

Results: Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) 4-1 (75-4, 70-11, 0-105, 49-0, 64-28); Khizar Aziz (Sindh) bt Ibrahim Khan (Bal) 4-0 (78-6, 68-17, 68-22, 57-46); M Majid Ali (NBP) bt Ahmed Shah (Bal) 4-0 (Walkover); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) bt M Naseem Akhtar (NBP) 4-2 (7-104, 41-67, 62-23, 45-20, 67-1, 60-19); Rana Irfan (Pjb) bt Agha Bilawal (Sindh) 4-3 (16-63, 64-25, 50-21, 34-86, 27-65, 58-16, 55-23); Aamir Shahzad (KPK) bt Abdul Ghafoor (Bal) 4-1 (79-10, 54-63, 62-20, 78-27, 65-44); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Haris Tahir (NBP) 4-0 (57-46, 63-25, 83-0, 96-26); Ali Hamza (Sindh) bt Zubair Tahir (Pjb) 4-1(60-67, 73-5, 63-16, 65-13, 68-56); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Saif Ali Khan (Bal) 4-1 (45-76, 80-8, 57-45, 69-6, 50-40); M Ijaz (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-1 (101-20, 70-33, 78-43, 27-76, 63-7); M Saleem (KPK) bt M Ajmal (Pjb) 4-3 (134-0, 3-72, 74-17, 11-83, 56-15, 11-52, 45-25); Usman Ahmed (KPK) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-0 (Walkover); Asjad Iqbal (NBP) bt M Umar Khan (Pjb) 4-1 (76-1, 77-27, 94-13, 29-66, 115-0); Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) bt Shan Naimat (Isb) 4-3 (16-77, 83-18, 24-76, 55-8, 72-23, 33-72, 54-15); Ali Haider (SBP) bt M Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) 4-0 (1-0, 83-11, 63-15, 64-26); M Sajjad (NBP) bt Umar Farooq (Pjb) 4-1 (52-41, 18-68, 60-20, 75-36, 47-10); Hamza Akbar (Pjb) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-2 (44-78, 24-68, 0-84, 74-42, 81-29, 79-7); Meesam Zadi (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar Khan (Isb) 4-1 (60-43, 62-49, 77-38, 21-88, 68-18); M Asif (NBP) bt Shaikh M Mudassir (SBP) 4-1 (53-16, 97-26, 75-18, 32-68, 76-0); Jawed Ansari (Sindh) bt Saqib Bashir (Bal) 4-0 (89-8, 57-14, 56-27, 49-16); Saad Khan (KPK) bt M Bilal (SBP) 4-1 (34-101, 6-59, 68-17, 70-51, 71-45); Munawar Khaliq (Isb) bt Rabish Pervez (Bal) 4-1(59-24, 59-37, 31-60, 47-45, 64-42); M Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-2 (53-20, 76-2, 72-5, 0-110, 64-68, 74-28).