Seeded cueists continue to tumble in Langnese Snooker

KARACHI: The sequence of upsets continued unabated with five of the eight seeded cueists suffering defeats on the third day of league matches in the 7th Langnese Ranking Cup Snooker Championship 2015 here at the Movenpick Hotel Arcade on Saturday.
Third seed Abdul Sattar, fourth seed Khurram Hussain Agha, fifth seed Shahram Changezi, seventh seed Rambail Gul and eighth seed Asif Toba succumbed to defeats at the hands of unseeded opponents with only three seeded cueists, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad and Mohammad Bilal, managing to overcome their respective rivals.
Defending champion and second seed Sajjad, having fired a break of 132 the other day, followed it up with another sensational break of 134, which remains the highest of the competition so far. The only other century break of the third day was registered in a lost cause by Sattar.
Top seed Mohammad Asif, a former world champion, after having dominated his rivals on the first couple of days, faced a stiff challenge but he was able to edge out the dangerous Sharjeel Mahmood to extend his unbeaten run in the tournament.
Sixth seed Mohammad Bilal also remained undefeated for the third day running as he succeeded in taming his more experienced rival, Abu Saim.
Third seed Sattar, who is set to make his debut in the World Snooker Championship in just a few weeks time, further jeopardized his chances of staying afloat in the tournament by losing his third match on a trot. He will have to improve his game dramatically in order to force his way into the quarter-finals.
Fourth seed Khurram, who had started the tournament on a winning note on the opening day, also found himself in a spot of bother by losing both his matches on the third day. It was his third defeat in as many games and, like Sattar, he also has do something miraculous to advance to the knockout phase.
Fifth seed Shahram, after having won his three three matches, was surprised by unseeded Sultan Mohammad after a six-frame battle while seventh seed Rambail was edged out by Shahid Aftab, a former national champion, after a gruelling seven-frame duel.
Eighth seed Asif Toba, having won and a lost a game each earlier, was beaten by Imran Shahzad to make his task of proceeding to the quarters tougher if not impossible.
Results:
Abdul Rahim (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KPK) 4-0 (60-55, 85-39, 39-17, 66-42); Aamir Tariq (Pjb) bt Mohammad Imran (Pjb) 4-0 (walkover); Zulfiqar Qadir (Sindh) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-1 (42-89, 58-54, 85-25, 97-26, 86-1); Ian Mark John (Sindh) bt Nauman Iqbal (Isb) 4-1 (73-41, 24-66, 62-27, 58-36, 70-38); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK) 4-3 (69-47, 41-79, 83-39, 83-35, 60-62, 20-61, 69-37); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Mohammad Fahim (Pjb) 4-1 (134-8, 82-11, 92-18, 30-73, 73-67); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Abdul Sattar (Sindh) 4-3 (66-21, 81-33, 57-78, 108-8, 1-55, 0-137, 64-53); Aakash Rafique (KPK) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 4-2 (60-52, 10-62, 54-45, 51-39, 8-68, 65-21); Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Asif Toba (Pjb) 4-2 (1-105, 35-57, 73-24, 61-59, 72-8, 72-35); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Rambail Gul (KPK) 4-3 (65-17, 16-72, 35-66, 20-78, 55-37, 81-9, 72-7); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-2 (66-8, 121-0, 58-60, 20-78, 65-47, 62-7); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Shahram Changezi (Isb) 4-2 (64-53, 41-88, 63-20, 61-48, 33-63, 63-25); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Khurram Agha (Sindh) 4-0 (67-56, 100-8, 56-53, 57-1); Aakash Rafique (KPK) bt Nauman Iqbal (Isb) 4-0 (67-56, 100-8, 56-53, 57-1).