Puri’s services to Pak snooker eulogised on his death anniversary

KARACHI: Glowing tribute was paid to Mazhar Iqbal Puri, one of the founders of the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), for hismonumental contribution to cue sports in the country. Ali Asghar Valika, who succeeded Puri as the helmsman of the PBSA in 1988 and went on the lead the body for the next couple of decades, recalled the attributes of his predecessorwho had passed away after protracted illness 15 years ago. “Besides being an enthusiastic and prolific cueist himself, he was a visionary leaderwhowas passionate to promote cue sports in Pakistan,” Valika, now the chairman of the PBSA, remarked while talking to ‘The News’ here on Friday. “He proposed me as the Vice President of the PBSA in 1986 when he was its President. His initiatives and drive inspired me greatly as we began the journey of reviving Pakistan snooker,” he recalled. “Today Pakistan has become one of the major snooker nations of the world. Let’s place on record the huge contribution that Puri made. He had initiated the revival of snooker in the country,” the PBSA chairman said. “He was themotivating force behind the formation of the PBSA in the early 1980s, which replaced the Billiards Association of Pakistan (BAP) as the governing body of cue sports in the country,” Valika reckoned. “I am sure Puri would have been proud to see where the Pakistan snooker stands today. His dream of bringing home the world title was fulfilled in his lifetime,” the PBSA chairman added. “Snookerwas in his blood and his sons Imran,who played in the professional circuit in England, and Akbar, currently president of Karachi Gymkhana, inherited the passion,” Valika said.