Sajjad hits brace of century breaks but still loses

KARACHI: Half-a-dozen players completed the last-16 line-up in the 12th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship at the bank’s sports complex on Friday.

The remaining six players who stormed into the knockout round are Mohammad Sajjad, Babar Masih, Mohammad ijaz, Naseem Akhtar, Bahadur khan and Mohammad Asif Toba.

Former national champion Mohammad Sajjad on hammered two century breaks of 124 and 107 but that could not help him win over Babar Masih as he lost 3-4.

Third seed Asjad Iqbal and eighth seed Ali Haider met their fate and could not cruise into last-16.

The pre quarter-finals will be played in two sessions on Saturday.

Results:Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) bt Umer Farooq (Punjab) 4-2 (67-31, 70-44, 50-56, 37-51, 56-52, 50-23), Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ali (Sindh) 4-0 (72-33, 62-55, 103-0, 69-37), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ajmal (Punjab) 4-0 (73-63, 62-14, 58-36, 57-20), Ali Hamza (Sindh) bt M. Jawed Ansari (Sindh) 4-3 (63-25, 61-60, 0-75, 70-57, 50-59, 54-57, 66-8), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) bt Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) 4-2 (99-1, 61-85, 87-37, 35-46, 56-24, 59-40), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) bt Mohammad Saleem (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) 4-1 (91-8, 31-53, 72-2, 72-20, 50-15), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) bt Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) 4-2 (76-1, 63-16, 79-49, 49-65, 5-94, 68-63), Babar Masih (Punjab) bt Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) 4-3 (0-124, 62-16, 1-86, 0-107, 92-0, 67-10, 65-39), Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab) bt Mubashir Raza (Punjab) 4-2 (38-70, 68-43, 60-14, 29-95, 70-35, 57-29), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) bt Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) 4-3 (48-77, 73-3, 6-111, 52-59, 64-42, 85-12, 66-52), Ali Haider (Punjab) bt Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) 4-3 (18-56, 63-24, 18-58, 68-18, 43-26, 0-68, 47-26).

Saturday’s fixtures:

Pre quarter-finals (best of nine frames):

At 10am: M. Ahsan Javaid vs M. Bilal, M. Saleem vs Bahadur Khan, Babar Masih vs Haris Tahir, Ahsan Ramzan vs M. Naseem Akhtar. At1pm: Shahid Aftab vs M. Asif Toba, M. Sajjad vs Mubashir Raza, M. Ijaz vs Sharjeel Mehmood, M. Asif vs Zulfiqar A. Qadir.