National champion Shahid Aftab returned to top form when he bulldozed Muhammad Sajjad 5-2 to breeze into the quarterfinal of Jubilee Insurance National Ranking Snooker Championship on Wednesday. Punjab’s Shahid Aftab, who slipped to 10th in national ranking after winning the national crown following three straight defeats in NBP Cup, dominated his match against Sajjad here at Karachi Gymkhana Billiards Hall. However, he was at his brilliant best as he smashed the breaks of 100, 72 and 42 in third, fifth and sixth frames to surprise last year’s Asian Championship runner Sajjad from Sargodha.
Imran Shahzad lived upto his billing when he routed ex-national champion Muhammad Asif 5-1. Asif, who made a spectacular break of 138 in the last league match on Tuesday struggled with his cue control against Imran. Young cueist Asjad Iqbal exhibited better brand of potting and positional play to defeat his Punjab province-mate Muhammad Imran 5-3. In the best pre-quarterfinal, Muhammad Asif Toba came from behind to shock lanky Sohail Shehzad in nine frame thriller. Match was locked 4-all but Asif Toba out-potted Sohail in decisive frame to seize a place in the last eight round.
Khurram Agha, who remained Pakistan number one for nearly three years also showed return to big match form by overpowering young Bilawal Agha. Following are pre-quarters results: Khurram Agha (Sindh) bt Bilawal Agha (Sindh) 5-3 (53-65, 107-05, 70-08, 59-21, 31-62, 51-62, 73-19, 92-28) M. Asif Toba (Pb) bt Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) 5-4 (32-69, 62-11, 36-66, 75-58, 33-74, 77-24, 49-66, 66-29, 75-22) Asjad Iqbal (Pb) bt Muhammad Imran 5-3 (28-66, 58-107, 68-17, 69-35, 70-24, 39-75, 68-35, 54-34) Sharjeel Mehmood (KPK) bt Farrukh Usman 5-3 (27-64, 70-00, 70-50, 74-10, 68-47 19-60, 47-58, 61-24) Imran Shahzad (Punjab) bt Muhammad Asif (Punjab) 5-1 (60-16, 79-45, 69-41, 33-82, 67-39,66-06) Shahid Aftab (Pb) bt Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb) 5-2, (60-52, 36-65, 72-21, 19-46, 82-01, 116-12, 66-23), Sultan Muhammad (Sindh) bt Muhammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) 5-2 (53-62, 83-02, 78-37, 32-70, 61-49, 87-0, 70-10).