Jawed to lead Pak contingent at 6-Red Championship

KARACHI: Jawed Karim, Vice President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), will lead the Pakistan contingent in the Sagnsom 6-Red World Snooker Championship 2016 being staged in Bangkok next week.

According to the information made available by Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President, PBSA, here on Friday, the three-member Pakistan contingent will leave Karachi late Saturday (today) evening.

Babar Masih is the lone Pakistani cueist to have been invited for the championship on the basis of his performance at various international and regional events in the recent past.

International referee Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, who is also an Executive Committee member of the PBSA, is the third member of the Pakistan squad for the six-day event, beginning on Monday.

Babar, one of the leading cueists of the country, follows the footsteps of compatriots Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Hamza Akbar and Majid Ali, who had been invited to the earlier editions of the tournament.

The 48 cueists from all over the world have been divided in eight groups for the preliminary rounds. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh of Thailand is the reigning champion.

At the end of the league matches, the top four from each group will move into the knockout stage.

The event, organized by the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS), was first held in the 2008 and was known as the 6-red Snooker International. It was later renamed as the 6-Red World Grand Prix.