Sajjad marches into snooker semis

Thrashes Sharjeel 5-0 including a break of 127.

KARACHI:

Former Pakistan number one Mohammad Sajjad continued his excellent form at the Jubilee Insurance National Snooker Championship 2012, crushing Sharjeel Mehmood 5-0 to cruise into the semi-finals.

On his way to the last-four, the former Asia number two also hit a break of 127, the highest of the tournament so far, as he outplayed Mehmood 57-45, 58-13, 134-1, 58-50, 94-37.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Asif battled out a 5-3 win over Sohail Shehzad in his quarter-final clash. Despite losing the first frame 65-24, Asif came back strongly to win the following frames 43-42 and 93-1. Shehzad won the fourth frame 65-25 but Asif consolidated his lead, taking the next two 63-20, 60-25.

The sea-saw battle continued with Sohail winning the seventh frame 76-18 before Asif sealed the result with a 69-57 win in the final frame.

Elsewhere in the tournament, Naveen Perwani defeated qualifier Vishan Gir 5-2 to end the latter’s fine run in the event in which he beat several higher-ranked players. Sultan Mohammad downed Abdul Sattar 5-2 to also march into the last-four.

Sajjad will take on Perwani, while Asif will face Mohammad in the semi-finals today.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2012.