November 8, 2001	Thursday	Shaba’an 21, 1422

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KARACHI, Nov 7: Sixth seed Mohammad Yousuf survived an early scare in the Second Red & White Billiards championship, when he fought his way back from the jaws of defeat while downing Azdiar Mobed 4-3, at the Indus Snooker Hall on Wednesday.

In the best of seven frames Azdiar got off to a splendid start picking up the first three frames as Yousuf looked on in silence. Just a frame away from victory Azdiar led 24/4 and only needed another 26 points to book his berth in the third round.

But an unforced error at this stage of the game cost Azdiar the match.

Instead of trying for two points with an inoff of Yousuf’s cue ball, Azdiar instead decided to be more flashy and go for a cannon off the red.

He missed and that was to be his downfall. Yousuf let off the hook won the frame 51/24 which enabled him to breathe a lot easier and then like a master craftsman pocketed the next two frames 50/14, 50/33 to draw abreast 3-3.

Now in a better frame of mind Yousuf reserved his best for the final frame with a brilliant clearance of 51, which earned him a handsome round of applause from the spectators watching the match.

For Azdiar sporting a sad smile in defeat it was indeed a case of being so near to victory and yet so far away.

Top seed Saleh Mohammad breezed past Sunny Shahani 4-0 and the same can be said about second seed Mohammad Hussain also from the NWFP, who ended the pretensions of Ahad Ali Khan by the same margin.

KPT’s Younus Amir Baksh after narrowly winning the first frame against Punjab’s Hassan Shuja, added the next three frames to his tally to also emerge a 4-0 winner. He was later joined by his nephew Atiq Latif Baksh, also a KPT employee, who downed S.M. Tahir 4-2.

Veteran S.M. Tahir making his appearance on a billiard table after several years was actually infront 2-1, but young Atiq weathered the storm to take the next three frames and the match 4-2.

S.M. Iqbal, another veteran making his appearance after several years also made his exit in the second going down 1-4 to NWFP’s Shah Khan, who excelled with his potting.

Yousuf Haroon, one of the favourites for the title, beat Naveen Perwani 4-0, after a close encounter in the opening frame, while Minhas Malik also came through a 4-0 winner against Junaid Umer.

Punjab’s Imran Shehzad and NWFP’s Arifullah also went through to the next round with 4-1 victories apiece against Sindh’s Farukh Ghani and Punjab’s Mohammad Shahid respectively.

Shakeel Bhatti got the better of Ahmed Bawany 4-2, after the frame scores were tied 2-2 at one stage of the game. Veteran Mohammad Aslam taught his young opponent Hanif Raja a snooker lesson, although Hanif fought back bravely in his 2-4 defeat.

In a battle of wits Punjab’s Saqib Butt beat Sindh’s left-hander Vishan Gir 4-2, while Khurram Hussain Agha and the tall Salman Shaikh also went through to the third round, 4-2 victors over Shahid N. Minhas and Mesam Zaidi.

The second round of the Pool matches will commence from Thursday morning.

Following were the Billiards results (second round)

Mohammad Aslam (Sindh) beat Hanif Raja (Sindh) 4-2: 44/50, 51/23, 51/26, 32/51, 51/21, 50/8. Minhas Malik (Sindh) beat Junaid Umer (Sindh) 4-0: 51/18, 52/16, 52/20, 50/27. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) beat Ahmed Bawany (Sindh) 4-2: 25/50, 51/20, 51/34, 40/51, 52/24, 50/16. Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh) beat Azdiar Mobed (Sindh) 4-3: 30/50, 4/51, 21/51, 51/24, 50/14, 50/33, 51/0. Younus Amir Baksh (Sindh) beat Hassan Shuja (Punjab) 4-0: 51/49, 53/36, 50/27, 53/22. Imran Shehzad (Punjab) beat Farukh Shehzad (Punjab) 4-1: 50/18, 50/7, 51/22, 47/50, 53/23. Arifullah (NWFP) beat Mohammad Shahid (Punjab) 4-1: 52/24, 36/50, 50/6, 54/5, 50/2. Mohammad Hussain (NWFP) beat Ahad Ali Khan (Sindh) 4-0: 50/23, 50/46, 51/6, 50/24. Saqib Butt (Punjab) beat Vishan Gir (Sindh) 4-2: 45/51, 50/12, 10/51, 50/45, 51/47, 52/12. Atiq Latif Baksh (Sindh) beat S.M. Tahir (Sindh) 4-2: 41/51, 50/37, 46/50, 50/20, 50/30, 50/20. Saleh Mohammad (NWFP) beat Sunny Shahani (Sindh) 4-0: 50/21, 51/10, 50/35, 50/34. Shah Khan (NWFP) beat S.M. Iqbal 4-1: 26/50, 50/20, 50/18, 50/22, 50/40. Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), beat Shahid N. Minhas (Sindh) 4-2: 31/50, 50/47, 34/50, 50/26, 50/32, 50/13. Salman Sheikh (Sindh) beat Mesam Zaidi (Sindh) 4-2: 34/50, 50/33, 50/32, 40/50, 50/44, 50/35.