Hamza wallops Sajjad in battle of former champions at Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker C'ship
The battle between the two former national champions, Hamza and Sajjad, turned out to be an epic one as both the world-class cueists came up with forceful performances on the fourth day of preliminary round matches of the Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020 at Karachi Gymkhana.
On the fourth day of preliminary round matches of the Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020, former champion Hamza Akbar, making a comeback in the domestic circuit, overpowered fourth seed Muhammad Sajjad at the Karachi Gymkhana.
The battle between the two former national champions, Hamza and Sajjad, turned out to be an epic one as both the world-class cueists came up with forceful performances.
Sajjad, having finished as the runner-up in the World Snooker Championship a few years ago, failed to press home the advantage after firing a couple of century breaks as Hamza, who graduated to the professional arena after winning the 31st Asian Snooker Championship at Kuala Lumpur in 2015, continued to make a powerful re-entry in the amateur field.
The other seven seeded cueists moved a step closer towards their goal of advancing to the pre-quarter-finals by outsmarting their respective opponents. Top seeded Muhammad Asif, also the reigning world champion, registered his fourth successive win by toppling Ameer Hamza Khan of Islamabad 4-1.
Second seed and defending champion Muhammad Bilal also registered his fourth victory on a trot when he blanked Rabish Pervez of Balochistan in straight frames. Third seed Asjad Iqbal made it four wins in row by overpowering the dangerous Sharjeel Mahmood of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Fifth seed Sohail Shahzad registered his third win in four matches by hammering Ali Hamza of Sindh 4-1. Sixth seed Muhammd Ijaz, whose break of 136 remains the highest on the first four days of the competition, sustained his brilliance by routing Muhammad Ajmal, a qualifier from Punjab.
Seventh seed Babar Masih extended his unbeaten run by whacking Ibrahim Khan, a qualifier from Balochistan, in straight frames. He compiled big breaks of 63, 87, 98 and 90 in every frame to serve a warning to his rivals in the upcoming matches.
Eighth seed Naseem Akhtar, a former world junior champion, also maintained his undefeated sequence by humbling Agha Bilawal of Sindh in straight frames.
4th Day Results:
| Player | vs | Player | Score line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Bilal (SBP) | def | Rabish Pervez (Bal) | 4-0 (76-1, 50-10, 86-32, 57-12) |
| Munawwar Khaliq (Isb) | def | Saad Khan (KP) | 4-2 (62-10, 16-58, 64-7, 24-58, 68-44, 53-34) |
| Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) | def | Shariq Ali (Sindh) | 4-0 (69-41, 69-22, 74-1, 63-19) |
| Muhammad Asif (NBP) | def | Ameer Hamza Khan (Isb) | 4-1 (74-21, 73-59, 76-39, 13-105, 91-24) |
| Rambail Gul (KP) | def | Shaikh Mudassir (SBP) | 4-0 (59-27, 72-36, 94-0, 58-0) |
| Muhammad Nazeer (Pjb) | def | Saqib Bashir (Bal) | 4-1 (60-8, 91-8, 42-62, 58-46, 73-2) |
| Hamza Akbar (Pjb) | def | Muhammad Sajjad (NBP) | 4-2 (69-23, 6-108, 83-0, 0-105, 59-48, 61-35) |
| Bahadur Khan (Bal) | def | Umar Farooq (Pjb) | 4-1 (92-46, 80-18, 57-25, 38-58, 69-38) |
| Muhammad Imran (KP) | def | Meesam Zaidi (Sindh) | 4-2 (37-71, 68-23, 19-60, 57-11, 65-26, 62-49) |
| Asjad Iqbal (NBP) | def | Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) | 4-1 (123-0, 64-39, 28-85, 65-52, 71-59) |
| Shan Naimat (Isb) | def | Umar Khan (Pjb) | 4-3 (27-60, 9-48, 64-1, 23-55, 58-50, 61-32, 85-29) |
| Asif Toba (Pjb) | def | Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh) | 4-1 (43-83, 71-51, 53-42, 67-12, 64-49) |
| Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) | def | Muhammad Ajmal (Pjb) | 4-1 (98-0, 65-53, 12-53, 86-40, 90-0) |
| Muhammad Saleem (KP) | def | Abdul Sattar (Sindh) | 4-1 (81-39, 59-52, 7-58, 74-8, 50-46) |
| Usman Ahmed (KP) | def | Obaid Khan (Bal) | 4-0 (70-39, 58-39, 73-62, 66-48) |
| Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) | def | Ali Hamza (Sindh) | 4-1 (47-76, 81-0, 70-1, 74-39, 71-64) |
| Haris Tahir (NBP) | def | Zubair Tahir (Pjb) | 4-0 (63-19, 71-8, 65-54, 67-12) |
| Shahid Aftab (Pjb) | def | Ahsan Ramzan (SBP) | 4-1 (68-41, 69-45, 80-10, 19-69, 117-0) |
| Naseem Akhtar (NBP) | def | Agha Bilawal (Sindh) | 4-0 (59-12, 66-16, 77-45, 81-1) |
| Babar Masih (Pjb) | def | Ibrahim Khan (Bal) | 4-0 (83-20, 94-8, 98-34, 97-0) |
| Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) | def | Khizar Aziz (Sindh) | 4-0 (64-39, 68-7, 62-20, 72-32) |
| Muhammad Ali (Sindh) | def | Ahmed Shah (Bal) | 4-0 (65-28, 62-26, 56-22, 49-38) |
| Mubashir Raza (Pjb) | def | Rana Irfan (Pjb) | 4-1 (6-78, 70-14, 87-0, 58-26, 75-21) |
| Muhammad Yaqoob (KP) | def | Abdul Ghafoor (Bal) | 4-2 (15-81, 43-62, 52-46, 66-19, 66-53, 62-9) |
