Saqib, who had represented Pakistan in the World U-18 Snooker in St.Petersburg recovered after dropping the opening game to overpower Azam with fine potting and positional play. After dropping 54-63, Saqib conjured up next three frames at trot to seal victory in Rs.130,000 prize money event.
36 cueists drawn in eight groups are taking part in the 9-day championship which will conclude on February 3. Following are day one results: Abdul Javaid (Pjb) bt Abdul Raheem (Pjb) 3-1 (86-27, 66-33, 50-59, 62-45), Ghawish Khan (Sindh) bt Hammad Shaikh (Sindh) 3-0 (65-40, 65-18, 75-30), Muhammad Saqib (Pjb) bt M.Azam Khan (KPK) 3-1 (54-63, 65-15, 82-63, 66-35), Muhammad Ibrahim (Bal) bt Muhammad Aftab (Bal) 3-0 (61-29, 54-25, 68-17), Muhammad Ahmed (Pjb) bt Usama Qureshi (Isb) 3-0 (57-47, 57-24, 62-50), Muhammad Afzaal (Pjb) bt Taimoor Aftab (Bal) 3-0 (56-32, 56-38, 67-36), S.M. Suleman Shah (Sindh) bt M.Junaid Akhtar (KPK) 3-0 (58-31, 43-19, 56-15), Haris Tahir (Pjb) bt William Laffourgue (Isb) 3-2 (72-22, 39-54, 81-16, 26-52, 75-23) Muhammad Adil (Bal) bt Zubair Shamsi (Sindh) 3-0 (61-26, 71-09, 70-12) Usama Haneef (Pjb) bt Hammad Rasool (Isb) 3-0 (68-25, 53-50, 64-29) Rabish Parvaiz (Bal) bt Hashir Siddique (KPK) 3-2 (57-46, 35-43, 53-25, 60-80, 53-02), Tanveer Baloch (Sindh) bt Fareed Firdous (Sindh) 3-0 (57-52, 72-29, 48-49), Maaz A.Samad (Isb) bt Muhammad Farooq (Bal) 3-0 (48-36, 54-11, 56-24), Adil Zafar (Pjb) bt Nemat Ullah (Bal) 3-0 (50-13, 59-08, 81-04), Hamza Ali (Sindh) bt Hassan Ali Adnan (KPK) 3-1 (34-56, 64-12, 93-14, 79-64).