Aamir, Wasim down seasoned cueists

KARACHI: Unseeded Aamir Sohail came from behind to stun third seed Shahid Aftab and Wasim Abbas, another qualifier, downed seventh seed Naseem Akhtar on the fifth day of preliminary round matches of the NBP 46th National Snooker Championship 2021 here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Tuesday.

It was the first defeat of the competition for Shahid, one of the most experienced cueists in the circuit, who had become the national champion more than a decade ago. He appeared on course of another win by pocketing the first three frames but Aamir turned the tables by claiming next four frames on a trot.

Unseeded Wasim meted out almost similar treatment to Naseem, overcoming him after a tense duel which also went to the full distance of seven frames.

Meanwhile, top seeded and defending champion Muhammad Asif and eighth seed Babar Masih inched closer to sealing a place in the last 16 by winning their fifth successive matches in the Group A and the Group H, respectively.

The other six seeds, all of whom have lost at least one of their first five games, need to be at their best on the last couple of days of the preliminary round matches, which conclude on Thursday (tomorrow), to stay afloat in the championship.

The knockout rounds, beginning with pre-quarter-finals, get underway on Friday and the final will be contested on Monday next.

Results: Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) 4-2 (91-24, 59-43, 57-78, 74-0, 40-52, 66-26); Haris Tahir (NBP) bt Asjad Iqbal (NBP) 4-2 (23-59, 1-69, 1-92, 73-35, 66-37, 79-45); Jawed Ansari (Sindh) bt Yaqoob Khan (KP) 4-0 (84-1, 71-13, 71-51, 78-15); Wasim Abbas (Pjb) bt Naseem Akhtar (NBP) 4-3 (34-67, 50-68, 70-45, 27-62, 65-18, 59-41, 68-0); Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) bt Muhammad Saleem (KP) 4-3 (7-80, 31-80, 70-65, 68-52, 67-65, 37-50, 74-72); Aamir Shahzad (KP) bt Ibrahim Khan (Bal) 4-1 (75-20, 61-21, 94-22, 65-67, 70-30); Muhammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Abdul Javed (Isb) 4-0 (93-17, 74-55, 62-21, 77-20); Sheikh Mudassir (Pjb) bt Muhammad Imran (KP) 4-1 (81-42, 79-20, 69-40, 29-71, 54-13) Ali Hamza (Sindh) bt Ahmad Shah (Bal) 4-0 (Walkover); Aamir Sohail (KP) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-3 (33-59, 26-70, 20-51, 66-48, 70-5, 61-53, 64-51); Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-1 (55-32, 95-2, 43-68, 57-45, 66-33); Waqar Ahmed (Isb) bt Hammad Hassan Shaikh (Pjb) 4-3 (35-65, 23-55, 50-60, 70-1, 65-33, 62-7, 71-37); Muhammad Sajjad (NBP) bt Adil Khan (Bal) 4-1 (55-51, 68-15, 52-65, 67-34, 63-49); Zubair Tahir (Pjb) bt Muhammad Iftikhar (Sindh) 4-1 (52-27, 33-60, 47-21, 31-9, 25-20); Hamza Akbar (Pjb) bt Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) 4-2 (1-68, 58-83, 74-11, 56-12, 60-40, 44-0); Muhammad Asif (NBP) bt Munawar Khaliq (Isb) 4-2 (40-63, 83-18, 0-72, 92-23, 82-8, 63-11); Muhammad Shahzad (Pjb) bt Awaisullah (Pjb) 4-2 (71-34, 44-76, 71-43, 66-51, 34-68, 82-73); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Abdul Qadir Ashir (Bal) 4-0 (63-19, 64-48, 64-60, 103-4); Babar Masih (Pjb) bt Asjad Iqbal (NBP) 4-0 (68-27, 64-45, 65-64, 83-19); Haris Tahir (NBP) bt Tanzeel Hussain (Bal) 4-0 (63-13, 63-25, 64-43, 72-9); Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-0 (58-28, 72-42, 62-38, 98-0); Naseem Akhtar (NBP) bt Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) 4-1 (1-83, 63-18, 72-6, 75-36, 66-21); Muhammad Saleem (KP) bt Sattar Khan (Isb) 4-0 (75-25, 44-39, 64-30, 58-20); Aamir Shahzad (KP) bt Wasim Abbas (Pjb) 4-0 (75-25, 44-39, 64-30, 58-20).