Unseeded Javed stuns Babar in National Snooker Championship

KARACHI: Unseeded Mohammad Javed caused another upset by routing sixth seed Babar Masih in the preliminary round matches of the Jubilee Insurance 41st National Snooker Championship 2016 being held here at the Hotel Movenpick.

The top five seeds, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Bilal, Shahram Changezi and Mohammad Majid Ali, remained undefeated by the end of the sixth day of the event on Saturday with the other three seeds, Babar Masih, Shahid Aftab and Sharjeel Mahmood having lost a game each.

All the eight seeded cueists appear on course of securing a berth in the knockout stage of the championship, being contested by a record number of 52 cueists, who have been divided into eight groups in the league rounds which will continue until Tuesday.

Top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the knockout phase, starting with the pre-quarter-finals on Wednesday. The quarter-finals will be played on Thursday, while the semi-finals will be held the following day. The event will conclude with the final and the prize distribution ceremony next Saturday.

While the unseeded duo of Farhan Noor and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir had earlier shocked seventh seed Shahid Aftab and eighth seed Sharjeel Mahmood respectively, it was another unseeded cueist, Mohammad Javed, who ended sixth seed Babar Masih’s unbeaten run in the competition.

Javed, in fact, produced outstanding stuff, to overcome the seeded opponent comfortably in the end as reflected by the 4-1 scoreline. Babar threatened to turn the tables with a break of 67 in the second frame but he was outsmarted in the next three frames as Javed strengthened his grip on the match with a break of 62 in the fourth frame.

It was smooth sailing for the fancied quintet however, as top seed Mohammad Asif and second seed Mohammad Sajjad overpowered Bahadur Khan and Shah Khan by the identical 4-1 scoreline.

Third seed Mohammad Bilal came back strongly to outwit Nadir Miran 4-2, firing breaks of 72 and 56 in successive frames after having lost one in which his opponent registered a break of 59.

Fourth seed Shahram Changezi proved too good for the unseeded Mohammad Nauman Iqbal whom he whipped in straight frames in the all-Islamabad duel.

Fifth seed Mohammad Majid Ali faced no problems either in whipping Abdul Raziq 4-1, having set the tone with a swift break of 59 in the opening frame.

Results: Mohammad Javed (Pjb) bt Babar Masih (Pjb) 4-1 (88-25, 17-67, 62-24, 64-1, 66-12); Farhan Khan (KPK) bt Abdul Raheem (Pjb) 4-1 (75-33, 51-44, 14-78, 77-25, 72-16); Abdul Javed (Pjb) bt Abdul Rahman (Bal) 4-0 (66-17, 63-53, 58-33, 70-0); Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt Sarbuland Khan (KPK) 4-1 (73-35, 66-47, 32-61, 60-27, 52-40); Mohammad Kashif Khan (Sindh) bt Mohammad Saqib (Pjb) 4-3 (55-27, 17-70, 67-59, 35-71, 46-65, 65-40, 73-37); Mohammad Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Rashid Mahmood (KPK) 4-3 (9-59, 13-85, 64-28, 52-65, 58-49, 69-10, 65-30); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) bt Ubaid Khan (Bal) 4-0 (66-22, 59-33, 84-1, 37-27); Mohammad Javed Ansari (Sindh) bt Farhan Noor (Pjb) 4-3 (53-25, 0-126, 48-74, 73-37, 43-52, 56-42, 56-36); Saeed Ahmed (Bal) bt Fawad Khan (KPK) 4-3 (59-29, 25-51, 14-72, 49-64, 68-32, 70-63, 64-43); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) bt Bahadur Khan (BAL) 4-1 (55-72, 73-1, 78-19, 61-46, 84-20); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KPK) 4-1 (71-18, 93-24, 75-37, 8-60, 75-17); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) bt Nadir Miran (Pjb) 4-2 (24-69, 79-39, 94-4, 16-63, 65-40, 77-21) Shahram Changezi (Isb) bt Mohammad Nauman Iqbal (Isb) 4-0 (82-21, 69-14, 82-42, 63-50); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) bt Abdul Raziq (Bal) 4-1 (79-5, 67-32, 70-13, 48-71, 69-30).