Triple delight for Hamza, Shahram

KARACHI: Hamza Akbar and Shahram Changezi, the finalists of the just concluded National Snooker championship, will represent Pakistan in three major international tournaments during the first half of the current year.
Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association, (PBSA), informed ‘The News’ here on Tuesday that both the cueists would take part in the ACBS Asian Snooker championship 2015 in Malaysia in April and Asian Team Event as well as Asian 6-Red Snooker championship in Iran in May.
“The finalists of our national championship used to get automatic entry to the Asian championship only,” he said. “But our next ranking event will not be held until April which means that both Hamza and Shahram will continue to be the top two cueists of the country for the next three months which gives them the right to represent Pakistan in as many as three international events,” he explained.
The PBSA chief praised the performance of Hamza and Shahram at the national championship, which was contested by 45 cueists.
“Both of them gave very impressive account of themselves. We are confident that they will extend their brilliant form into the continental events and bring glories for the country,” he said.
It may be recalled that the 21-year-old Hamza, hailing from Faisalabad, regained the national crown by outwitting the 31-year-old Shahram, who is from Islamabad, in the best-of-15-frame final the other day.