Top Story

  Editorial

  Metro

  Kashmir

  Business

  Sports

  Scoop

  Societal

  Health

    Cartoon

KARACHI: Three strong title contenders Saleh Muhammad, Farhan Mirza and Naveen Perwani showed impressive form while registering their second victories in the 29th National Snooker Championship at Karachi Club Billiards Hall Monday.

After fine start on Sunday, Saleh of NWFP chalked out the breaks of 62, 45 and 59 while out-potting Kamran Shah of Balochistan 4-1 in group "B" tie.

Second seed Saleh from Peshawar, bidding for his second national crown, started with splendid break of 66 but still lost the opening frame 66-72. But he raced to victory by grabbing the next four frames in a row.

Fifth seed Farhan Mirza placed in pool "E" compiled three fine breaks of 70, 43 and 58 in first three frames in crushing Imtiaz Tipu from Punjab in four straight frame. Three neat breaks saw Naveen Perwani beating Atif Mughal of Punjab. Naveen lost the first frame but dominated in the next four frame to emerge winner including break of 62, 45 and 59.

Defending Champion Muhammad Yousuf seeded fourth for the event, though won his group "D" match against Shahid Ali in straight frames but was unable to make any notable break in his win.

Similarly, Pakistan number one Khurram Agha managed a single break of 62 in third frame while hammering Janan Khan from Balochistan 4-0. Eighth seed Shakeel Bhatti maintained his dismal show in the event when he went down 0-4 to Punjab Champion Shehram Changezi.

Sixth seed Atiq Latif Bakhsh son of great late Latif Amir Bakhsh was stretched to limits before overpowering Shahid Ilyas 4-3. In the most irritating and intriguing match which lasted three hours and 40 minutes, newcomer Muddasar of NWFP beat Farrukh Usman 4-3. The match was decided on the black ball.

Farrukh Usman started well by picking the first frame. However Muddasar pulled the next three frames to take 3-1 advantage. But the Sindh cueist Farrukh pocketed the next two frames to draw level 3-3.

Following are the results on third day:

Shehram Changezi (Pjb) bt Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 4-0, 57-51, 62-01, 70-25, 54-25,

Farhan Mirza (Pjb) bt Imtiaz Tipu (Pjb) 4-0, 82-17, 88-10, 104-05, 71-34,

Atiq Latif Bakhsh (KPT) bt Shahid Ilyas (Sindh) 4-3, 25-60, 17-69, 70-52, 50-42, 43-72, 51-47, 84-17,

Imran Shahzad (Pjb) bt Shahid Ali Saghar (Pjb) 4-2, 49-40, 01-10, 70-30, 53-45, 47-58, 73-34,

Muhammad Yousuf (KPT) bt Shahid Ali (Pjb) 64-43, 60-12, 59-36, 85-02,

Khurram Agha (KPT) bt Janan Ali (Bal) 4-0, 62-17, 66-41, 74-33, 50-34,

Saleh Muhammad (NWFP) bt Kamran Shah (Bal) 4-1, 66-72, 69-43, 69-43, 69-17, 90-28, 70-56,

Naveen Perwani (Sindh) bt Atif Mughal (Pjb) 25-54, 77-0, 73-16, 45-42, 78-17,

Shakir Rafiq (Sindh) bt Nauman Awan (NWFP) 4-3, 49-40, 61-04, 0-54, 59-29, 24-68, 27-50, 59-11,

Wajed Khan (NWFP) bt Kashif (Sindh) 4-3, 58-19, 0-265, 44-69, 62-58, 46-71, 66-43, 58-47,

Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) bt Inam-ur-Rehman (NWFP) 4-2, 31-65, 62-37, 61-27, 54-03, 43-68, 52-25,

Muddasar (NWFP) bt Farrukh Usman (Sindh) 4-3, 47-73, 57-53, 58-46, 55-42, 08-49, 27-58, 52-48.