Top cueists set to battle as Ranking Snooker Championship begins

KARACHI: All the top 24 cueists of the country alongwith the promising junior quartet will be in action at the Jubilee Insurance 3rd Ranking Cup Snooker Championship 2017 which begins here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday (today).

A spokesman of the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) confirmed here on Thursday evening that none of the 28 participating cueist has expressed regret and full attendance was on the cards.

Asjad Iqbal, Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Ijaz, Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Sajjad, Mubashir Raza, Mohammad Bilal and Sohail Shahzad are the eight seeded cueists for the competition in which the junior quartet of Mohammad Rafiq, Umar Farooq, Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir and Mohammad Naseem Akhtar has also been granted entry as per policy of the PBSA.

The 28 participants have been divided equally in four groups and all of them will be playing six league matches to be spread over five days. The top two cueists from each of the four groups will be progressing to the knockout phase, starting with the quarter-finals. Both the semi-finals as well as the final will be telecast live on Geo Super.

Prize money of Rs165,000 will be at stake with the winner to earn Rs70,000 and the runner-up to claim Rs40,000. The losing semi-finalists will be getting Rs15,000 each, while the losing quarter-finalists will be receiving Rs5,000 each and the highest break will carry cash reward of Rs5,000.

The top two ranked cueists of the country at the end of the event will qualify for the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2017 to be staged at Doha, Qatar, next month while another cueist will be selected by the PBSA executive committee.

Today’s fixtures:

Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) v Mohammad Rafiq (KPK); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) v Umar Farooq (Pjb); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) v Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) v Asif Toba (Pjb); Mohammad Bilal (Pjb) v Abu Saim (Pjb);  Mubashir Raza (Pjb) v Shah Khan (KPK); Mohammad Sajjad (Pjb) v Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK); Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh) v Shahram Changezi (Isb); Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) v Ahsan Javaid (Pjb); Babar Masih (Pjb) v Imran Shahzad (Pjb); Mohammad Asif (Pjb) v Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh); Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) v Asif Toba (Pjb); Shahid Aftab (Pjb) v Abu Saim (Pjb); Mohammad Ijaz (Pjb) v Shah Khan (KPK); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK); Agha Bilawal (Sindh) v Mohammad Rafiq (KPK); Haris Tahir (Pjb) v Umar Farooq (Pjb); Nadir Miraan (Pjb) v Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Pjb); Mohammad Majid Ali (Pjb) v Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Pjb).