National Snooker Championship: Ishtiaq’s impressive run continues

Finalists to represent Pakistan in upcoming Asian Snooker Championship.

KARACHI: Mohammad Ishtiaq continued his unbeaten run in the Jubilee Insurance 38th National Snooker Championship as he outplayed Amir Shehzad 4-0 at the Karachi Gymkhana to advance to the next round.

He won with frame scores of 63-36, 64-60, 66-28 and 67-14 to book a place in the last-16.

Ishtiaq, who triumphed in Sindh last year, had earlier defeated world champion Mohammad Asif in his first match for a shocking result.

Even Asif had praised Ishtiaq after his victory saying, “Even though I had problems with my vision, Ishtiaq put up a good show and deserved the win. One should give credit when it’s due.”

So far, several seeded players have encountered surprising results but Ishtiaq has continued his run to earn a place in the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, Javed Ansari edged past Rambail Gul 4-3, while Amir Tariq registered a similar victory against Khizar Aziz with frame scores of 15-72, 80-10, 51-83, 62-49, 63-70, 69-43 and 64-37.

Muhammad Bilal thrashed Abdul Rehman in straight frames with scores of 56-39, 67-13, 72-33 and 104-16, while Farhan Noor made an impressive comeback from 3-2 down to win 4-3 against Mohsin Amin.



In another match, Amir Rasheed defeated Najeedullah Khan 4-1, while Imran Shehzad won 4-2 against Aakash Rafique.

Youngster Muhammad Majid Ali and Muhammad Uzair Aziz chalked up 4-2 victories against Qamar Zaman and Bahadur Khan respectively; as Abdul Sattar took a stunning 4-3 win against Ayaz Khan even though he was trailing by 3-1.

The two finalists at the event will have the opportunity to represent Pakistan in the upcoming Asian Championship to be held here next month.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2013.