A pair of cueists from Punjab Imran Shehzad and Muhammad Asif and Sindh’s Abdul Sattar and Sohail Shehzad advanced into the semi-finals of the third NBP National Ranking Snooker Championship here at Amir Bakhsh Billiards Hall of Karachi Club on Sunday. Imran recovered from 1-2 down to overcome Naveen Perwani in a tense quarter-final. After losing the first and third frame, Imran came strongly with a break of 6-76 in the fourth frame.
Naveen pulled the next two frames to gain 4-2 lead but Imran showed his class in a crunch situation and made the break of 53 and 35 in seventh-frame and won the match with a two superb breaks of 56 and 53 in the decider. Fighting Abdul Sattar came from 2-4 deficits to topple Muhammad Imran of Punjab in a thriller. Sattar demonstrated remarkable game under pressure and won the last three frames in a row and secured semi-final spot. In the other match, Muhammad Asif fought back from 1-2 down to overpower Omair Alam of Sindh.
Asif’s win included two fine breaks of 75 and 70 in the sixth and seventh frame. Sindh cueist Sohail Shehzad dropped three frames before defeating his province-mate Sultan Muhammad 5-3. In the semi-finals Abdul Sattar will take on Sohail Shehzad today while Imran Shehzad will play Muhammad Asif on Tuesday.
