KARACHI: Defending champion Ali Hamza survived a scare to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of the 32nd Sindh Cup Snooker Tournament, but former national champion Sultan Muhammad and Mohammad Hasnain Akhtar were not as fortunate here at the One Ten Snooker Arena on Thursday. Ali conjured up a thrilling comeback to win 3-2 against Umair Ansari, rallying from 2-1 down to take the match [56-32, 33-60, 19-39, 59-23, 61-23]. In another thrilling match, Hasnain, who won the U-21 title earlier this year, suffered a 3-1 loss to A. Sattar and was eliminated from the tournament. Sultan, a former Sindh champion, also bowed out after losing to Umer Naeem 3-1. Other players who advanced to the last-16 stage include Khizar Aziz, Usman Khan, Ian Mark John, Rizwan Hashmi, Umair Khan, Waqas Tani, Ali Raza, Nadir Shah, Umair Alam, Mani Memon, Fa­had Khan and Zulfiqar A. Qadir.