PBSA to organise first-ever U15 Snooker Championship

KARACHI: The Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) has geared up for organising the inaugral under-15 National Snooker Championship as early as next month.
Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President, PBSA, informed ‘The News’ here on Wednesday that they were ready to launch the event in March with the blessings of Jubilee Insurance, who have been the major sponsors of cue sports in the country for the past decade.
“We are in touch with all our provincial units who have been entrusted with the responsibility of picking up eight to 10 cueists in the under-15 age category. The process has begun and we are expecting the entries to be submitted to us shortly,” he revealed.
“We will finalise the format as well the venue upon the receipt of the entries. We are considering holding the inaugural event in Islamabad or Faisalabad where we do have the desired facilities,” the PBSA President remarked.
“If the event is organised in the upcountry region, the boys from Karachi and rest of Sindh will be provided with air tickets and the PBSA will take care of boarding and lodging of all outstation participants,” he added.
“In order to make the tournament attractive we will offer incentives to the cueists. The top performers would be considered for scholarship and we are also assessing the possibilities of paying appearance money to all of them,” Alamgir Shaikh continued.
“With the popularity of snooker growing with every passing day, we are confident of getting hold of talented young cueists whom we will like to groom at our academies and also arrange for their foreign training in order to enhance their skill,” the PBSA President said.
He was of the opinion that the introduction of the under-15 circuit, having become long overdue, will instantly serve the purpose of making the national events more competitive in immediate future.