Sattar, Khurram misfire in Langnese Snooker

KARACHI: Third seed Abdul Sattar and fourth seed Khurram Hussain Agha succumbed to defeats at the hands of unseeded opponents on the second day of league matches in the 7th Langnese Ranking Cup Snooker Championship 2015 here on Friday.
The other six seeds, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Shahram Changezi, Rambail Gul, Mohammad Bilal and Asif Toba, toppled their respective rivals in contrasting styles on a day which produced as many as four century breaks.
The highest break of the day was fired by the defending champion and second seed Sajjad, who fired one of 132, against Mohammad Imran. The unseeded duo of Abu Saim and Imran Shahzad, both of them vastly experienced, showed their mettle during their big breaks of 125 and 119 respectively while seventh seed Rambail chalked up a superb break of 115.
Third seed Sattar suffered his second successive defeat in the competition. After having been surprised by Bahadur Khan of Balochistan on the opening day, he also lost to Zulfiqar Qadir to jeopardize his chances of advancing to the knockout phase.
Fourth seed Khurram, who had started the tournament on a winning note a day earlier, was stunned by Ian Mark John.
Eighth seed Asif Toba made amends for his loss on the first day by overpowering the dangerous Sharjeel Mahmood in his second game.
Top seeded Mohammad Asif, a former world champion, continued to demonstrate his awesome process while tormenting Shah Khan in frames. He compiled breaks of 58, 51, 63 and 60 in successive frames to establish complete supremacy over his bamboozled rival who had caused an upset only the other day.
Fifth seed Shahram Changezi, who registered the first century break of the tournament, also extended his brilliant form, registering his third straight win in the competition which has made him one of the favourites to lift the trophy.
Close encounters have been witnessed on the first couple of days and the trend is expected to continue in the remaining league matches as well with the the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) having decided to retain only the top cueists for the next year’s National Championship.
Results:
Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Abdul Rahim (Pjb) 4-0 (72-18, 85-0, 77-29, 137-0); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Aamir Tariq (Pjb) 4-1 (61-52, 114-0, 118-0, 56-63, 99-0); Abu Saim (Pjb) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-1 (78-54, 125-0, 61-41, 52-60, 61-33); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Nauman Iqbal (Isb) 4-2 (72-42, 42-68, 61-9, 71-9, 22-53, 65-10); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) 4-2 (65-43, 7-72, 93-38, 78-44, 2-72, 67-59); Rambail Gul (KPK) bt Mohammad Fahim (Pjb) 4-1 (128-02, 67-52, 50-66, 65-53, 70-9); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Babar Masih (Pjb) 4-2 (77-15, 74-24, 1-77, 80-1, 37-69, 68-0); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-3 (24-72, 69-23, 33-55, 58-34, 25-74, 70-59, 65-61); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KPK) 4-0 (90-34, 90-0, 106-25, 89-1); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Mohammad Imran (Pjb) 4-2 (61-71, 0-84, 84-0, 75-1, 91-34, 132-0); Zulfiqar Qadir (Sindh) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (32-70, 80-0, 49-145, 80-17, 79-13, 15-71, 64-27); Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 4-3 (95-24, 61-36, 37-76, 7-89, 74-5, 14-75, 63-8); Shahram Changezi (Isb) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (64-57, 96-6, 55-54, 53-67, 33-53, 60-52); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (KPK) 4-3 (29-72, 61-52, 73-22, 77-16, 22-58, 16-66, 67-30)