The News
KARACHI: Top seeded Mohammad Asif, fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad and eighth seed Mohammad Majid suffered setbacks on the opening day of the Jubilee Insurance 3rd Ranking Snooker Championship 2012 which got underway here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.
The other five seeds, Asjad Iqbal, Sultan Mohammad, Naveen Kumar Perwani, Abdul Sattar and Vishan Gir, started their campaign on a winning note.
Third seed Sultan also registered the first century break of the event, being contested by 32 cueists, divided equally into four groups.
The day, however, belonged to the unseeded trio of Umair Alam, Mohammad Ishtiaq and Asif Toba, who registered surprising, if not shocking, victories over Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad and Mohammad Majid, respectively.
Shehram Changezi, who made a comeback in the national circuit last month, continued his good work at the table and caught the veteran Mohammad Yousuf, a former world champion, by surprise with an unusually attacking game. The youngster from Islamabad overwhelmed the master craftsman 4-1. The other interesting contest, featuring two unseeded cueists, was the one between the two Shahzads, Imran and Sohail. The match went to the full distance of seven frames with Sohail outwitting Imran, the defending champion, who has been struggling in national tournaments this year.
Second seed Asjad, who had come up with stunning performance to win the previous ranking tournament less than two weeks ago, started from where he had left at the DA Creek Club. He overcame a spirited resistance from Javed Ansari, a promising local youngster.
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa duo of Shafiullah and Farhan Khan, ranked 25th and 27th by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), pulled out of the event at the eleventh hour and they were replaced by Abdul Rauf Kurd and Zahoor Ahmed, both of them hailing from Balochistan.
They were ranked 33rd and 34th, respectively, before the start of the tourney.
Results:
Mohammad Javed (Pjb) bt Farrukh Usman Brohi (Sindh) 4-0 (62-19, 52-9, 59-2, 64-40); Shahram Changezi (Isb) bt Mohammad Yousuf (Pjb) 4-1 (72-21, 94-26, 9-61, 83-27, 57-29); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Imran Shahzad (Pjb) 4-3 (56-67, 16-60, 48-13, 63-32, 75-6, 17-92, 78-37) Bilawal Agha (Sindh) bt Mohammad Nazeer (Pjb) 4-3 (53-24, 42-67, 57-16, 64-4, 35-59, 7-63 78-56); Mohammad Afzal (Pjb) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-2 (58-9, 18-84, 72-46, 66-46, 0-86, 52-42); Mohammad Imran (Pjb) bt Shah Khan (KP) 4-0 (56-18, 57-19, 69-24, 52-45); Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Farhan Noor (Pjb) 4-2 (8-61, 57-4, 48-61, 64-51, 78-20, 59-33); Asif Toba (Pjb) bt Mohammad Majid (Pjb) 4-1 (50-46, 47-56, 61-36, 73-21, 75-22); Vishan Gir (Sindh) bt Abdul Rauf Kurd (Bal) 4-2 (50-62, 68-26, 80-26, 73-46, 62-71, 63-29); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Mohammad Akmal (Sindh) 4-1 (38-64, 57-39, 55-25, 52-35, 53-31); Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Zahoor Ahmed (Bal) 4-2 (52-44, 45-40, 43-53, 69-38, 57-67, 74-8); Umair Alam (Sindh) bt Mohammad Asif (Pjb) 4-3 (81-19, 26-45, 14-108, 58-13, 67-56, 18-65, 72-14); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) bt Javed Ansari (Sindh) 4-3 (49-56, 70-7, 65-25, 51-13, 26-69, 26-82, 83-1); Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) beat Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) 4-1 (108-18, 9-69, 56-37, 70-25, 61-22); Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) 4-3 (56-44, 68-4, 16-60, 65-57, 56-80, 23-66, 50-36).
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/