Hammad registers stunning twin century breaks in single game

KARACHI: Unseeded Hammad Hassan Shaikh registered stunning twin century breaks in a single game on the third day of preliminary round matches the NBP 46th National Snooker Championship 2021 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Sunday.

Hammad, a qualifier from Punjab, constructed breaks of 138 and 116 during his 4-1 victory over Aamir Sohail of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The compilation of two century breaks by the same individual in a game has been a rare occurrence in the national ranking events.

Umair Haider, another qualifier from Punjab, caused the only upset of the day when he trounced sixth seed Mubashir Raza, also from Punjab, 4-2. The unseeded cueist chalked up breaks of 68 and 59 in successive frames to tame his fancied opponent.

While top seeded Muhammad Asif and second seed Muhammad Sajjad took a breather, the other five seeded cueists, Shahid Aftab, Muhammad Bilal, Ahsan Javaid, Naseem Akhtar and Babar Masih consolidated their position by overpowering their respective rivals.

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

Results: Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Yaqoob Khan (KP) 4-0 (92-23, 62-29, 82-34, 71-58); Haris Tahir (NBP) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-2 (74-9, 21-69, 94-0, 66-23, 25-62, 97-0); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Tanzeel Hussain (Bal) 4-1 (65-0, 55-35, 66-14, 20-60, 65-23); Naseem Akhtar (NBP) bt Ibrahim Khan (Bal) 4-1 (59-42, 61-29, 65-60, 25-74, 53-9); Muhammad Saleem (KP) bt Aamir Shahzad (KP) 4-0 (66-42, 64-9, 87-0, 85-25); Sattar Khan (Isb) bt Waseem Abbas (Pjb) 4-3 (62-63, 70-41, 31-75, 62-33, 64-26, 18-68, 66-46); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Tanzeel Hussain (Bal) 4-1 (54-62, 97-19, 92-0, 70-9, 120-1); Asjad Iqbal (NBP) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-1 (84-36, 66-34, 92-4, 57-66, 62-31); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Yaqoob Khan (KP) 4-3 (81-10, 64-19, 25-81, 76-30, 33-77, 64-69, 69-28); Naseem Akhtar (NBP) bt Sattar Khan (Isb) 4-2 (47-66, 68-21, 74-27, 58-27, 37-46, 76-10); Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Aamir Shahzad (KP) 4-0 (67-40, 73-38, 66-36, 76-22); Waseem Abbas (Pj) bt Ibrahim Khan (Bal) 4-2 (67-22, 46-86, 42-50, 64-22, 65-15, 67-28); Umair Haider (Pjb) bt Mubashir Raza (Pjb) 4-2 (2-71, 77-15, 91-27, 19-68, 68-40, 42-5); Saad Khan (KP) bt Taufiq Johri (Sindh) 4-3 (64-25, 21-64, 50-40, 82-52, 47-52, 22-77, 71-4); Hamza Ilyas (Pjb) bt Bahadur Khan (Bal) 4-2 (73-43, 56-55, 45-68, 50-67, 63-40, 55-29); Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) bt Imran Qamar (Pjb) 4-2 (64-33, 84-16, 5-79, 60-85, 70-38, 70-53); Shah Khan (KP) bt Hiskail Bilal (Bal) 4-0 (67-1, 67-57, 76-40, 58-39); Umar Naeem (Sindh) bt Sheikh Muzammil (Pjb) 4-1 (31-64, 58-11, 72-11, 70-19, 74-43); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Muhammad Imran (KP) 4-1 (49-51, 74-28, 59-26, 73-12, 77-12); Abdul Javed (Isb) bt Ahmad Shah (Bal) 4-1 (79-46, 36-61, 67-33, 75-34, 75-3); Nadeem Gul (Pjb) bt Ali Hamza (Sindh) 4-0 (94-40, 63-27, 60-50, 62-44); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-0 (62-23, 68-0, 80-68, 64-39); Hammad Hassan Shaikh (Pjb) bt Aamir Sohail (KP) 4-1 (94-4, 138-4, 78-8, 48-57, 109-0); Waqar Ahmed (Isb) bt Aftab Baig (Bal) 4-0 (66-43, 63-19, 60-16, 72-44).