Prolific Babar scores century break to enter pre-quarters at National Snooker

KARACHI: International player and seventh seed Babar Masih erased the break of 136 piled up by Mohammad Ijaz against Usman Ahmed on Monday as he hammered 139 against Sindh champion Khizer Aziz in the 45th National Snooker Championship at Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.

The splendid break by Rawalpindi-based Babar came in the last frame while registering 4-1 triumph against the local cueist as he was home with the scores 9-73, 73-28, 83-21, 75-10, 139-0.

This is Babar’s second century break in five matches the previous being 113 against Ahmed Shah in group G.

Babar’s victory was fifth on trot and he will round off his league engagements when he meets another local cueist Zukfiqar A. Qadir Saturday morning, the last day of league.

Babar is among six seeded players who have maintained a clean slate in five games and have ensured a place in the knockout pre quarter-finals. The other five are top seed Mohammad Asif, second seed Mohammad Bilal, third seed Asjad Iqbal,, sixth seed Mohammad Ijaz and eighth seed Mohammad Naseem Akhtar.

Fourth seed Mohammad Sajjad and fifth seed Sohail Shahzad have won four out of five matches.

Results:

Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab/NBP) bt Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (69-18, 25-68, 73-19, 77-40, 33-73, 78-0); Sattar Khan (Islamabad) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-2 (72-0, 49-40, 52-64, 61-75, 62-28, 66-51); Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (64-11, 98-29, 15-56, 91-8, 59-9); Asjad Iqbal (Punjab/NBP) bt Shan Naimat (Islamabad) 4-1 (39-67, 83-8, 70-0, 65-15, 68-13); Mohammad Umar Khan (Punjab) bt Ali Haider (Punjab/SBP) 4-3 (60-20, 66-8, 0-73, 59-81, 98-0, 43-56, 57-26); Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-3 (10-53, 73-24, 22-62, 64-26, 64-30, 39-78, 79-0); Mohammad Bilal (Punjab/SBP) bt Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad) 4-3 (49-75, 1-69, 106-23, 40-70, 94-14, 69-39, 98-41); Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) bt Saad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (35-67, 90-34 62-27, 53-5, 77-68); Shariq Ali (Sindh) bt Rabish Pervez (Balochistan) 4-0 (85-61, 61-54, 92-22, 47-24); Mohammad Asif (Punjab/NBP) bt Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (74-44, 61-18, 68-48, 43-79, 55-50); M. Jawed Ansari (Sindh) bt Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab/SBP) 4-2 (65-47, 50-63, 51-15, 73-56, 17-59, 62-16); Mohammad Nazeer (Punjab) bt Ameer Hamza Khan (Islamabad) 4-0 (63-44, 66-38, 71-9, 42-8); Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab/NBP) bt Rana Irfan (Punjab) 4-1 (75-52, 57-70, 67-10, 69-23, 62-41); Mubashir Raza (Punjab) bt Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (73-8, 72-14, 69-52, 54-68, 68-30); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) bt Mohammad Yaqoob (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-0 (75-19, 51-8, 66-25, 83-16); Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Khizar Aziz (Sindh) 4-1 (9-73, 73-28, 83-21, 75-10, 139-0); Mohammad Ali (Sindh) bt Ibrahim Khan (Balochistan) 4-2 (67-16, 61-26, 36-69, 6-92, 68-43, 65-9); Mohammad Ajmal (Punjab) bt Obaid Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (67-58, 80-22, 80-5, 40-67, 81-14); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Zubair Tahir (Punjab) 4-1 (62-51, 27-59, 82-23, 70-9, 95-2); HarisTahir (Punjab/NBP) bt Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan) 4-1 (41-55, 64-43, 59-43, 75-23, 146-0); Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab/SBP) bt Ali Hamza (Sindh) 4-3 (68-57, 64-13, 35-47, 64-37, 47-68, 60-62, 52-24); Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) bt Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab/NBP) 4-3 (16-70, 81-14, 38-67, 54-9, 0-81, 57-25, 60-14); Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) bt Moammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (31-55, 76-12, 57-18, 65-17, 67-14); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) bt Ali Raza (Sindh) 4-3 (49-52, 33-70, 0-79, 67-43, 57-34, 82-48, 49-9).

Friday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Umer Farooq vs Hamza Akbar; Bahadur Khan vs S. Meesam Zaidi;

A. Sattar Khan vs Mohammad Imran; Mohammad Umar Khan vs Sharjeel Mehmood; Shan Naimat vs Mohammad Rizwan Hashmi; Ali Haider vs Mohammad Asif Toba.

At 12noon: Saad Khan vs Rabish Pervez; Munawar Khaliq vs Mohammad Ahsan Javaid; Aakash Rafique vs Shariq Ali; Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir vs Ameer Hamza Khan; Rambel Gul vs Saqib Bashir; M. Jawed Ansari vs Mohammad Nazeer.

At 2pm: Mubashir Raza vs Agha Bilawal; Rana Irfan vs Abdul Ghafoor; Aamir Shahzad vs Mohammad Yaqoob; Zulfiqar A. Qadir vs Ibrahim Khan; Khizar Aziz vs Ahmed Shah; Mohammad Majid Ali vs Mohammad Ali.

At 4pm: Abdul Sattar vs Mohammad Ajmal; Mohammad Saleem vs Usman Ahmed; Ali Raza vs Obaid Khan; HarisTahir vs Ali Hamza; Zubair Tahir vs Shahid Aftab; Saif Ali Khan vs Ahsan Ramzan.