Khurram Agha stunned by Asjad in NBP Snooker

KARACHI: Defending Champion Asjad Iqbal cruised to thrilling seven-frame victory over former Pakistan number one on the second day of third NBP National Ranking Snooker Championship at Amir Bakhsh Billiards Hall of Karachi Club here on Thursday.

Asjad, who went down to former World Champion Muhammad Yousuf on Wednesday, recovered from 1-2 and 2-3 down to defeat experienced international Khurram Agha, who had represented Pakistan in three world championships.

Former Pakistan Junior Champion Hamza Akbar of Punjab, who shocked top seed Shahid Aftab 4-3 on the first day, went down by identical margin against Abdul Sattar of Sindh.

Fourth seed Sultan Muhammad of Sindh notched-up his second win when he defeated Zahoor Ahmed of Balochistan in four straight frames.

Umair Alam of Sindh, who got immediate attention for his superb break of 128, went down 3-4 in his second match against province-mate Muhammad Ishtiaq.

Second seed Imran Shahzad, 4th seed Sultan Muhammad, 5th seed Sohail Shahzad and other seeded players Naveen Perwani, Muhammad Asif Toba and Muhammad Asif also won their second matches.

Former national champion Muhammad Asif from Faisalabad made the breaks of 75 and 50 in the fourth and fifth frames to overpower Imran Qamar 4-3.