Daily Times

KARACHI: The Independence Day 10th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship, the second domestic event of the year, gets into action at the bank’s sports complex here from Sunday (tomorrow). The details of the competition, which features top forty cueists from the three provinces including Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides Islamabad, were unveiled by a spokesman here on Friday. There will be no cueists from Balochistan as they didn’t feature under the top rankings released after the country’s premier National Snooker Championship that took place in February. Outlining salient features of the event, Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president Munawwar Hussain Shaikh said prize money of Rs.185,000 has been set aside for the top eight players besides Rs.5000 for the highest break. He informed that the winning purse had been enhanced by Rs.40,000 and the champion would receive Rs.100,000 while the runner-up would earn Rs.40,000. “The bank has doled out Rs.1.3 million while the estimated budget is Rs 1.7 million,” he added.

He identified increase of players from 32 to 40, enhancement of winning purse and raise in remuneration of players earlier this year as the factors behind of budget enhancement.

The PBSF chief added that a hectic international schedule awaited cueists in the remaining five months of the year: Asian Team and Individual Championship in Doha from Sept 19 to 25, three legs of IBSF Asian Tour from Sept 26 to 29 in Doha, from Oct 7 to 10 in India and from Oct 22 to 25 in China, IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championship in St Petersburg from Sept 30 to Oct 6, IBSF World Snooker Championship from Nov 17 to 26 in Myanmar, IBSF World 6-Reds and Team Championships in Egypt and IBSF 6-Reds World Cup in Doha, both in December. “In between two more domestic events have been planned in the metropolis,” he added.

Replying regarding establishing a snooker academy in Karachi, he hoped the issue was likely to take a shape once federal sports minister and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) director general were named.

Responding to another question about falling standard of Sindh, particularly Karachi cueists, he said: “The player who performs attains top rankings. Punjab cueists have overtaken Sindh in top 10 rankings mainly due to their hard work.” Munawwar also thanked NBP for acknowledging the feat of former world under-18 champion Mohammad Naseem Akhtar by giving him an employment.

Groups:

A: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad), Ian Mark John (Sindh), Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

B: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Khurram Agha (Sindh), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Shaikh M Mudassir (Punjab).

C: Babar Masih (Punjab), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Mohammad Umar (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab).

D: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Qadeer Abbas (Punjab), Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

E: Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Faizan (Sindh), Umair
Alam (Sindh).

F: Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Abdullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

G: Ali Haider (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab), Abdul Javaid (Punjab).

H: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Farhan Noor (Punjab), Usman Ahmed (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Daily Times, August 4^th 2018.