PBSA set to launch U-15 National Snooker next month

KARACHI: The focus will be on youth in the coming year as far as the cue sport of snooker in the country is concerned with the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) all set to launch the first-ever Under-15 National Snooker Championship next month.

Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, Co-Chairman, PBSA, informed ‘The News’ here on Thursday that it has been decided to hold the National Under-15 event alongwith the National Under-17 and the National Under-20 Championships in Islamabad during the month of January.

All these tournaments are being supported by Jubilee Insurance, having been the major sponsors of Pakistan snooker for the last decade and a half.“It’s very gladdening to announce the launch of the Under-15 competition because we were on it for the last few years and we have finally been able to put all our acts together in this regard,” Alamgir Shaikh, returning from Cairo, Egypt, after carrying out an assignment for the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), revealed.

“Our federating units have already organized the Under-15, the Under-17 and the Under-20 tournaments at the provincial level in their respective areas of jurisdiction recently and the National Championships of all these events will have the representation from all over the country,” the PBSA Co-Chairman added.

“The feedback from the provincial associations regarding these tournaments for the youngsters is very encouraging as there was healthy participation in every event which augurs very well for the future of the sport,” Alamgir Shaikh, a recipient of the Pride of Performance Award for his services to snooker, reckoned.

“We have cared for the youth in the past and, encouraged by the results, we will be doing more in this direction from the coming year onwards. After all they hold the key to our future,” he concluded.