National ranking event reaches last-eight stage

All top-ranked cueists except Asjad make it to the quarter-finals

KARACHI: The 2014 Langnese Ranking Snooker Cup’s quarter-final phase will begin on Thursday, and barring Asjad Iqbal, almost all the top-ranked players made it to the knockout stage of the event.

In the last-eight round, where all matches will consist of nine frames, Imran Shehzad will take on in-form youngster Hamza Akbar while Muhammad Sajjad has a tricky opponent to handle as he faces former Pakistan number two Sultan Muhammad.

Former IBSF World Champion Muhammad Asif will lock horns with Rambail Gul while another young cueist Muhammad Majid Ali will battle it out with Abdul Sattar for a place in the semi-finals.

On day five, Sultan held onto a late fightback from Shahid Aftab to win by scores of 71-45, 66-16, 52-25, 23-109, 72-77, 26-58 and 64-26, while Amir Tariq won with a similar scoreline against Abdul Raheem.

Asif defeated Yasir Shehzad 4-2 with ease and Majid won with a similar scoreline against Asif Toba with scores of 80-35, 59-32, 09-95(95), 63-47, 25-69 and 75-33.

Sajjad completed a 4-0 rout of Sohail Shehzad on the last day of the group stages, while Imran also achieved a straight-frames win against Sattar.

Hamza beat Asjad without conceding even a single frame by scores of 60-55, 79-30, 59-44 and 78-66, while Rambail beat Amir Tariq 4-1.

 

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