44th National Snooker Championship move into quarterfinal stage
U-21 champion Ali Haider, National Bank Cup winner Mohammad Ijaz, Sindh qualifier Agha Bilawal and Asjad Iqbal making surprise entries in quarter-finals of the 44th National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana.
An unseeded quartet comprising national U-21 champion Ali Haider, National Bank Cup winner Mohammad Ijaz, Sindh qualifier Agha Bilawal and Asjad Iqbal were on song, making surprise entries in quarter-finals of the 44th National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana.
They were joined in the last eight by top seed Babar Masih, second seed Mohammad Asif, third seed Zulfiqar A Qadir and the fifth seed Mohammad Bilal.
Three splendid breaks enabled Haider to whip ex Doha Asian Games team event bronze medallist Sohail Shehzad 5-3 to make his career’s second quarter’s of men’s national championship. He cracked breaks of 65, 66 and 66 in the second, third and fourth frames as he romped home 75-13, 83-27, 73-36, 67-6, 55-56, 45-69, 13-61, 70-53.
Ijaz, who was completely off colour in the third national ranking event last year after winning the NBP Cup, showed improvement when he sent eighth seed Rambel Gul packing 5-2 (78-34, 90-5, 52-73, 36-87, 68-1, 118-16, 59-16).
In all-Sindh encounter, Bilawal fought gallantly taking last three frames to outpace Sultan Mohammad 5-3 the scores being 61-57, 31-59, 27-70, 64-31, 23-88, 86-15, 61-37, 70-36 before four-time NBP Cup champion and senior cueist Asjad trounced veteran and former Pakistan No 1 Imran Shehzad 5-3 to stay in contention. He was home 23-64, 70-4, 66-67, 72-44, 111-30, 70-35, 56-60, 67-19.
Top seed Babar outplayed former national champion and seventh seed Shahid Aftab 5-1. The highlight of the battle was a resounding break of 124 in the fourth frame as he won 93-48, 88-38, 24-61, 139-0, 87-20, 69-0.
Second seed Asif who has managed to make it to the last eight coasted to 5-3 victory over Haris Tahir (53-70, 68-38, 29-85, 68-10, 71-0, 84-23, 88-12).
Similarly, third seed Zulfiqar, who has maintained his form, stole day’s limelight hammering break of 134 in the sixth frame to halt winning run of former junior world champion Mohammad Naseem Akhtar with 5-3 victory. Zulfiqar won the duel 27-63, 80-32, 62-48, 23-89, 60-59, 134-0, 63-71, 106-0.
Former national champion Bilal faced little resistance while getting the better of fourth seed Mohammad Majid Ali. He won (75-64, 66-55, 124-15, 7-109, 60-26, 70-13. The triumph includes a century break of 111 in third frame.
