Saqib, Faheem stun experienced rivals in National Snooker

KARACHI: Youth prevailed over experience as Mohammad Saqib and Mohammad Faheem surprised their fancied rivals on the second day of league matches in National Snooker Championship 2016 here on Tuesday.

Saqib, who recently won the National Under-21 champion, blew the whistle on Abu Saim, a seasoned campaigner.

Faheem, a wild card entrant, downed Imran Shahzad, a former ranking champion, who had registered the first century break of the competition the other day.

Abdul Raheem and Haris Tahir, two other highly promising junior cueists, also won their matches.

Faheem’s victory over Imran was the only one recorded by the three wild card entrants during the first couple of days as Mohammad Yousuf and Hunain Aamir lost their matches for the second day running.

Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Bilal, Shahram Changezi, Majid Ali, Babar Masih, Shahid Aftab and Sharjeel Mahmood enjoyed a rest day. They won their matches on the opening day.

A record number of 52 cueists, divided into eight groups for the preliminary rounds, have entered the competition which will continue for a record period of 13 days.

The winner will receive a handsome purse of Rs100,000 and the total prize money will be to the tune of Rs272,000.

The competition has 22 cueists from Punjab, 11 from Sindh, 10 from Khyber Pakhtunkwa, six from Balachistan and three from Islamabad.

After nine days of league matches, which will continue until February 23, the top two cueists from each group will be contesting the pre-quarter-finals the following day. The quarter-finals will be played on February 25, the semi-finals on February 26 and the final on February 27.

Results: Abdul Raziq (Bal) bt Rashid Mahmood (KP) 4-0 (58-30, 75-44, 59-18, 61-42); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Aakash Rafique (KP) 4-2 (55-46, 36-69, 73-36, 61-14, 33-55, 82-37); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Farhan Noor (Punjab) 4-3 (42-84, 73-17, 77-33, 53-16, 6-99, 58-71, 66-47); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Saeed Ahmed (Bal) 4-0 (90-14, 70-7, 72-19, 76-27); Abdul Raheem (Pjb) bt Mohammad Afzal (Pjb) 4-3 (82-38, 52-19, 16-70, 68-61, 51-59, 32-81, 68-21); Abdul Javed (Pjb) bt Ian Mark John (Sindh) 4-1 (76-36, 34-66, 70-58, 67-36, 73-48); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Ahmed Shah (Bal) 4-0 (82-9, 58-46, 65-24, 122-4); Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) bt Abu Saim (Pjb) 4-2 (54-65, 92-1, 73-51, 47-57, 72-60, 69-48); Mohammad Faheem (Pjb) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-2 (74-24, 64-36, 15-90, 27-95, 72-14, 60-54); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Hunain Aamir (Pjb) 4-2 (70-20, 44-50, 38-69, 61-17, 64-52, 67-34); Rambail Gul (KP) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Pjb) 4-1 (52-54, 64-34, 76-16, 90-35, 61-36); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Aqeel (KP) 4-0 (94-9, 63-35, 51-44, 113-14); Shah Khan (KP) bt Abdul Rahman (Bal) 4-1 (76-25, 39-70, 84-1, 71-26, 69-2); Sarbuland Khan (KP) bt Nadir Miraan (Pjb) 4-1 (70-42, 64-39, 0-81, 67-35, 71-49); Nauman Iqbal (Isb) bt Kashif Khan (Sindh) 4-3 (31-55, 52-53, 66-30, 80-8, 61-58, 49-52, 65-22).