Half of seeded cueists jolted in NBP National Snooker

KARACHI: Half of the seeded cueists were jolted on the second day of preliminary rounds of the NBP 46th National Snooker Championship 2021 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Saturday.

Second seed Muhammad Sajjad, fifth seed Ahsan Javaid, sixth seed Mubashir Raza and seventh seed Naseem Akhtar were rolled over by Saifullah, Umar Naeem, Bahadur Khan and Aamir Shahzad, respectively. The other four seeded cueists, Muhammad Asif, Shahid Aftab, Muhammad Bilal and Babar Masih, have remained unbeten so far.

With defeats in both his matches, Sajjad, one of the very cueists to have been crowned as the national champion more than one time, needs to bring about a massive turnaround in order to have realistic hopes of advancing to the knockout rounds.

Hamza Akbar, having been granted wildcard entry into the competition, registered his second successive win to boost his chances of storming into the last 16. The former Asian champion seems in good form and could be a real threat to the seeded cueists in the coming days.

Local cueist Ali Hamza had to pay the price of misunderstanding the draws, resulting in a walkover win for his opponent, Muhammad Imran. Tournament Director, Naved Kapadia, informed ‘The News’ that Ali Hamza was under the impression that his match was to commence at 2 pm instead of the scheduled 12 noon.

“As he reached the arena late, the match was awarded to his opponent as per law,” the PBSA official explained.

Results: Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-2 (39-84, 20-71, 84-29, 67-39, 65-7, 64-45); Haris Tahir (NBP) bt Yaqoob Khan (KP) 4-0 (75-15, 82-2, 90-8, 83-7); Asjad Iqbal (NBP) bt Tanzeel Hussain (Bal) 4-0 (57-34, 54-25, 134-5, 47-73, 81-21); Aamir Shahzad (KP) bt Naseem Akhtar (NBP) 4-3 (61-48, 57-37, 71-18, 50-54, 25-63, 1-61, 65-55); Muhammad Saleem (KP) bt Ibrahim Khan (Bal) 4-0 (87-29, 52-49, 66-19, 74-38); Faizan Ahmed (Sindh) bt Sattar Khan (Isb) 4-3 (63-22, 34-63, 59-15, 65-12, 0-95, 48-79, 70-34); Saifullah (Pjb) bt Muhammad Sajjad (NBP) 4-2 (71-62, 89-34, 49-76, 75-49, 27-65, 54-35); Hamza Akbar (Pjb) bt Zubair Tahir (Pjb) 4-3 (40-84, 45-71, 29-80, 62-24, 84-21, 62-47, 62-41); Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) bt Muhammad Iftikhar (Sindh) 4-0 (89-8, 65-37, 76-0, 58-48); Muhammad Asif (NBP) bt Rambail Gul (KP) 4-0 (101-4, 69-2, 57-8, 76-50); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Muhammad Shahzad (Pjb) 4-2 (18-64, 84-16, 24-51, 90-42, 69-45, 101-9); Awaisullah (Pjb) bt Abdul Qadir Ashir (Bal) 4-0 (118-9, 63-15, 60-46, 97-16); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Nadeem Gul (Pjb) 4-2 (67-17, 1-88, 63-35, 52-65, 90-9, 70-41); Ahmad Shah (Bal) bt Shaikh Mudassir (Pjb) 4-2 (24-62, 62-25, 59-20, 53-76, 73-15, 64-17); Muhammad Imran (KP) bt Ali Hamza (Sindh) 4-0 (Walkover); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Aftab Baig (Bal) 4-0 (71-24, 121-0, 81-10, 74-2); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Hammad Hassan Shaikh (Pjb) 4-0 (95-1, 74-46, 66-46, 59-12); Waqar Ahmed (Isb) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-2 (98-0, 35-71, 78-22, 73-32, 54-59, 53-50); Bahadur Khan (Bal) bt Mubashir Raza (Pjb) 4-1 (73-72, 84-0, 61-35, 36-62, 58-40); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) bt Taufiq Johri (Sindh) 4-1 (62-32, 58-48, 69-15, 17-90, 60-9); Umair Haider (Pjb) bt Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) 4-0 (89-21, 73-25, 83-21, 74-38); Umar Naeem (Sindh) bt Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-3 (26-66, 64-27, 65-18, 55-43, 22-61, 16-97, 60-24); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KP) 4-0 (70-0, 51-64, 70-25, 21-79, 86-0, 79-13); Imran Qamar (Pjb) bt Shaikh Muzammil (Pjb) 4-1 (49-65, 61-20, 118-0, 54-14, 60-29).