Seeded cueists Zulfiqar A. Qadir & Mohammad Asif survives in last-8 of 11th NBP Ranking Snooker C'ship
Two more seeds second seed Asjad Iqbal and sixth seed and defending champion Mohammad Ijaz made their exit in the 11th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship at the bank’s sports complex, Karachi.
Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir and Muhammad Asif were the only two seeded cueists to reach the quarter-finals of the 11th edition of NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2019, being played here at the NBP Sports Complex, Karachi.
Two more seeds second seed Asjad Iqbal and sixth seed and defending champion Mohammad Ijaz made their exit in the ongoing ranking championship. Earlier, four players including top seed Mohammad Bilal, fourth seed Ali Haider, fifth seed Babar Masih and eighth seed Agha Bilawal had failed to go beyond the league stage the other day.
Third seed Zulfiqar A. Qadir and seventh seed Mohammad Asif are the only two seeded cueists who have survived and made it to the last eight.
NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2019 Quarter-finalists:
The former kept his chances alive while getting the better of Abdul Sattar 5-1 (82-0, 56-18, 54-73, 74-8, 129-0, 78-69) in all-Sindh encounter. Earlier in the day he completed his league engagements by getting the better of Rambel Gul straight 57-0, 133-0, 20-17, 1-0. In fact, Rambel had conceded the last two frames due to sickness.
Former world champion Asif handed 5-2 defeat to holder Ijaz the scores being 40-63, 62-48, 83-35, 0-128, 106-4, 66-57, 64-10 to stay in contention.
The day also saw four more century breaks including the highest 140 by Mohammad Majid Ali against Mohammad Shahbaz. The break that erased the previous best of 136 compiled by Babar Masih, failed to take him to last eight as he lost 2-5. Shahbaz won 17-97, 66-39, 0-140, 64-46, 67-60, 69-55, 66-0.
The three other centurions were Zulfiqar (102), Mohammad Sajjad (110), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (103).
All the four quarter-finals, to be best-of-nine-frame encounters, will be played simultaneously in the morning session, due to start at 10 am, on Thursday (today). Seven of the eight quarter-finalists hail from Punjab, reflecting the continued rise of cue sports in the biggest province of the country.
Pre quarter-finals Results:
| Player | vs | Player | Score line |
| Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) | def | Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) | 5-2 (17-97, 66-39, 0-140, 64-46, 67-60, 69-55, 66-0) |
| Mohammad Asif (Punjab) | def | Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) | 5-2 (40-63, 62-48, 83-35, 0-128, 106-4, 66-57, 64-10) |
| Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) | def | Rashid Aziz (Punjab) | 5-2 (75-30, 1-60, 69-19, 80-18, 24-108, 64-12, 72-27) |
| Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) | def | Abdul Sattar (Sindh) | 5-1 (82-0, 56-18, 54-73, 74-8, 129-0, 78-69) |
| Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) | def | Haris Tahir (Punjab) | 5-3 (87-0, 62-45, 100-13, 78-45, 27-75, 38-75, 11-102, 73-42) |
| Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) | def | Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) | 5-2 (30-63, 94-30, 97-26, 71-8, 67-18, 21-70, 74-6) |
| Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) | def | Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) | 5-3 (64-57, 111-0, 44-58, 1-64, 1-69, 66-55, 74-47, 70-48 |
| Mubashir Raza (Punjab) | def | Abu Saim (Punjab) | 5-2 (74-27, 67-7, 64-1, 35-57, 0-62, 101-31, 67-42) |
