Shehzad crushes Yousuf to storm into quarters
Second-seed dumps veteran out of snooker championship.
KARACHI:
Former world amateur champion Muhammad Yousuf crashed out of the NBP Ranking Snooker Championship after losing 5-3 to Imran Shehzad who qualified for the quarter-finals of the event.
Punjab’s Shehzad put up a fine show, winning the contest 97-25, 95-10, 29-71, 52-40, 70-23, 55-67, 17-60 and 63-32.
The seasoned cueist blanked out Yousuf in the first two frames but suffered a setback in the third before going on to win the next two. Yousuf seemed to fight back as he won the sixth and seventh frames comfortably but Shehzad ended any chance of a come-from-behind victory for the veteran cueist and sealed the win in the eighth frame to advance into the last-eight.
Perwani struggles against Akbar
Earlier, veteran Naveen Perwani found the going tough against Punjab’s Hamza Akbar before eventually sealing a 5-4 win.
Perwani started off comfortably as he won the first two frames. Akbar hit back in the third before Perwani again got the better of him in the fourth. The fifth frame then saw Akbar launch a brilliant fightback blanking out Perwani in the next three frames before the seasoned cueist claimed the last two to advance into the last-eight, winning the match 69-38, 71-47, 35-71, 62-15, 45-73, 32-58, 22-63, 67-27 and 61-28.
Sultan fires century break
Earlier, Sultan Muhammad put on a blistering show as he fired a century break to outclass Punjab’s Asif Toba 5-3. The Sindh cueist won the match 68-6, 53-62, 50-58, 126-1, 68-14, 15-66, 68-37 and 63-19 as he hit a break of 122 in the fourth frame to also progress to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, unseeded Umair Alam continued his march in the tournament, overcoming the challenge posed by Nauman Awan to beat the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cueist 5-3. The Karachi-based cueist, who had started the tournament in fine form when he fired a century break on the opening day, carried on the good show, winning the match 78-33, 49-57,61-22, 58-22, 54-61, 73-17, 23-54 and 75-7.
Meanwhile, fifth-seed Sohail Shehzad cruised to a comfortable win over Bilawal Agha, winning by a resounding 5-2 margin.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2011.
Former world amateur champion Muhammad Yousuf crashed out of the NBP Ranking Snooker Championship after losing 5-3 to Imran Shehzad who qualified for the quarter-finals of the event.
Punjab’s Shehzad put up a fine show, winning the contest 97-25, 95-10, 29-71, 52-40, 70-23, 55-67, 17-60 and 63-32.
The seasoned cueist blanked out Yousuf in the first two frames but suffered a setback in the third before going on to win the next two. Yousuf seemed to fight back as he won the sixth and seventh frames comfortably but Shehzad ended any chance of a come-from-behind victory for the veteran cueist and sealed the win in the eighth frame to advance into the last-eight.
Perwani struggles against Akbar
Earlier, veteran Naveen Perwani found the going tough against Punjab’s Hamza Akbar before eventually sealing a 5-4 win.
Perwani started off comfortably as he won the first two frames. Akbar hit back in the third before Perwani again got the better of him in the fourth. The fifth frame then saw Akbar launch a brilliant fightback blanking out Perwani in the next three frames before the seasoned cueist claimed the last two to advance into the last-eight, winning the match 69-38, 71-47, 35-71, 62-15, 45-73, 32-58, 22-63, 67-27 and 61-28.
Sultan fires century break
Earlier, Sultan Muhammad put on a blistering show as he fired a century break to outclass Punjab’s Asif Toba 5-3. The Sindh cueist won the match 68-6, 53-62, 50-58, 126-1, 68-14, 15-66, 68-37 and 63-19 as he hit a break of 122 in the fourth frame to also progress to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, unseeded Umair Alam continued his march in the tournament, overcoming the challenge posed by Nauman Awan to beat the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa cueist 5-3. The Karachi-based cueist, who had started the tournament in fine form when he fired a century break on the opening day, carried on the good show, winning the match 78-33, 49-57,61-22, 58-22, 54-61, 73-17, 23-54 and 75-7.
Meanwhile, fifth-seed Sohail Shehzad cruised to a comfortable win over Bilawal Agha, winning by a resounding 5-2 margin.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2011.