National snooker begins today

KARACHI: Asif Toba from Toba Tek Singh will defend his title in the 40th National Snooker championship which cues off here at the Movenpick Hotel on Saturday (today).
A total of 45 cueists will be taking part in the event which ends on February 9.
The participants have been divided in eight groups for the preliminary round matches.
The defending champion, who is seeded fifth, has been placed in the Group E alongwith Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Gul Afzal (Islamabad), Ahsan Javed (Punjab) and Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh).
Top seed Mohammad Sajjad from Sargodha heads the Group A in the company of Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Mahmood Khan (Balochistan), Taufiq Johari (Sindh) and Nauman Iqbal (Islamabad).
Second seed Imran Shahzad, a resident of Lahore, has been drawn in the Group B with Abu Saim (Punjab), Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Hunain Aamir (Punjab) and Aamir Tariq (Punjab).
Third seed Abdul Sattar, the only local cueist in the top eight, features in the Group C alongwith Aakash Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Yasir Nadeem (Islamabad), Ian Mark John (Sindh) and Abdul Rahim (Punjab).
Fourth seed Hamza Akbar, from Punjab, leads the pack in the Group D in the presence of Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Bahadur Khan (Balochistan), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Mohammad Fahim (Punjab) and Babar Masih (Punjab).
The Group F comprises sixth seed Mohammad Asif, a former world champion from Faisalabad, Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Sharjeel Mahmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Jahangir Bangulzai (Balochistan), Uzair Aziz (Sindh) and Saquib Butt (Punjab).
The Group G is led by seventh seed Majid Ali, also from Punjab. The group also has Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Mohammad Faizan (Sindh), Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan) and Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
Eighth seed Asjad Iqbal figures in the Group H alongwith Rambail Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Zulfiqar Qadir (Sindh), Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
The top 16 have been given direct entry into the nationals, while six cueists each have qualified on the basis of their efforts in Punjab Cup, Sindh Cup and Khyber Pakhthunkhwa Cup.
Four and two cueists have made it to the line-up from Balochistan Cup and Islamabad Cup, respectively.
The quartet of Mohammad Fahim, Abdul Rahim, Aamir Tariq and Mohammad Nouman Iqbal, the semi-finalists of the recently concluded National Junior (Under-21) championship, will be making their debut in the main circuit. Babar Masih has been granted a wild card entry in the tournament owing to his past performances.
The preliminary round matches will continue for six successive days. The top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament, starting with the pre-quarter-finals on February 6.
The winner will be collecting a purse of Rs80,000 and the runner-up will be getting Rs50,000.
The losing semi-finalists will be receiving Rs20,000 each and the losing pre-quarter-finalists will get Rs8,000 each. The highest break will fetch Rs10,000.
The finalists will also have the added incentive of claiming berths in the 31st ACBS Asian Snooker championship 2015 to be held in Malaysia later this year.