Ijaz jumps to 5th in national snooker rankings

KARACHI: Muhammad Ijaz, by having emerged triumphant against all odds in the recently held 10th NBP Ranking Cup Snooker Championship 2018, has moved up in the national snooker rankings.

According to the latest ranking chart, announced by Naved Kapadia, Tournament Director, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), here on Thursday, Ijaz, ranked 22nd previously, has now moved to the fifth position. Babar Masih, who was edged out by Ijaz in an epic final, has also gained some ground. He was become the second ranked cueist of the country now, having entered the tournament at third position.

Muhammad Asif, who was knocked over by the eventual champion in the semifinals, has retained the number one ranking while Muhammad Majid Ali, the other losing semifinalist, has moved up the ladder slightly. Ranked fourth previously, he has now reached the number three slot.

Muhammad Bilal, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals, has slipped to the fourth position after having entered the competition at second place.

Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, one of the other losing quarter-finalists, has progressed to the sixth position after having been ranked eighth previously.

Aakash Rafique has also improved his rankings following his qualification in the quarter-finals. He occupies seventh place in the national ranking chart, having started the tourney at 12th position.

Asjad Iqbal failed to defend his NBP Ranking Cup title but he has also gained a couple of places by having made it to the quarter-finals. He has gone up to the eighth place from number 10.

Not surprisingly six of the top eight ranked cueists hail from the province of Punjab which has produced numerous outstanding exponents of the game. Zulfiqar is the lone cueist from Sindh in the elite list which also features Aakash of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Sindh has greater representation in the rankings between 9 and 12 as the local trio of Sultan Muhammad (9th), Khurram Hussain Agha (11th) and Sohail Shahzad (12th) has become automatic qualifiers for the next national event due to be held next month.

Rambail Gul (10th) and Sharjeel Mahmood (15th) are the two other cueists from KP in the top 16 while Shahid Aftab (13th), Muhammad Ahsan Javaid (14th) and Asif Toba (16th) are the three more cueists in this list, besides six in the top eight.