National Ranking Snooker gets under way today

Syed Khalid Mahmood

KARACHI: The third edition of the Jubilee Insurance National Ranking Snooker Championship 2018, participated by the 24 top cueists of the country, will be getting underway here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday (today).

The media launch of the one-week event was held here at the Gymkhana’s Banquet Hall on Monday in which the salient features were shared by Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), and Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, Co-Chairman, PBSA. They acknowledged the support of the sponsors and the hosts, besides the electronic and print media for having brought cue sports to such high levels.

It was announced that the top two cueists of the country in the national ranking chart, to be issued after this event, will represent the country in the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2018 scheduled to be staged in Myanmar later this year. Like the last few years, the PBSA has decided to retain 12 cueists for the next year’s National Championship whereas the remaining slots will be filled on the basis of the performances in the upcoming provincial cup tournaments.

Tahir Ahmed, Managing Director, Jubilee General Insurance, reckoned that snooker has now become the most popular sport in the country, after cricket. He described the PBSA as the best performing national sports body on the basis of its performance over the past couple of decades.

Akbar Iqbal Puri, President, Karachi Gymkhana, recalled that the club has been the hub of snooker activities in Pakistan since 1987 when his father, Mazhar Iqbal Puri, had revived the cue sports by laying the foundation of the PBSA of which he was the first President.

Meanwhile the 24 participants have been divided equally in four groups for the preliminary rounds which will continue for four days.

Top seeded and defending champion Muhammad Asif (Punjab) has been placed in the Group A in the company of eighth seed Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Asif Toba(Punjab), Agha Bilawal (Sindh) and Sirbuland Khan (KPK).

Second seed Babar Masih (Punjab) and seventh seed Aakash Rafique (KPK) feature in the Group B alongwith Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Sharjeel Mahmood (KPK), M Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) and M Shahbaz (Punjab).

The Group C comprises of third seed Majid Ali (Punjab), sixth seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh), Rambail Gul (KPK), M Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) and Umair Alam (Sindh) while the Group D contains fourth seed M Bilal (Punjab), fifth seed M Ijaz (Punjab), Sultan Muhammad (Sindh), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab) and Ali Haider (Punjab).