First Under-16 National Snooker from January 5

KARACHI: The first-ever Under-16 National Snooker Championship highlights the packed snooker calendar for 2019 which was unveiled by the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday.

The national snooker calendar cues off with as many as four tournaments to be held during January, starting with the inaugural Under-16 National Snooker Championship from January 5.

The 4th Under-18 National Snooker Championship will begin from January 10, the 11th Under-21 National Snooker Championship from January 17 and the 3rd Masters National Snooker Championship from January 24.

The details of the four championships, to be staged at the PSB Sports Complex, were announced by the PBSA officials during a media briefing which was also addressed by Tahir Ahmed, Managing Director, Jubilee General Insurance.It was revealed that the Under-16 National Championship, with no one from Balochistan, will be contested by 16 cueists, who have been divided in four groups.

The top two cueists from each group will advance to quarter-finals.With the former under-18 world champion Naseem Akhtar getting a wildcard entry, the number of participants in the Under-18 National Championship will be 33 and they have been divided in eight groups for the preliminary rounds. The top two cueists from each group will qualify for pre-quarter-finals.

The Under-21 National Championship will be featuring as many as four wild card entrants and the event will be contested by 36 cueists who have been divided into nine groups. The top two cueists from each group will qualify for the last- 18 round.

There will be 18 cueists in action during the Masters National Championship, divided into four groups for the preliminary rounds with the top two from each group to qualify for the quarter-finals.

The structure of prize money for each of the three youth tournaments will be the same with the winner to receive Rs50,000, the runner-up to get Rs25,000, the losing semi-finalists to earn Rs15,000 each and the losing quarter-finalists to be compensated with Rs5,000 each.

The highest break of the competition carries a cash award of Rs5,000.The winner of the Masters championship will get richer by Rs50,000, the runner-up will collect Rs25,000, and the losing semi-finalists will get Rs10,000 each.

The highest break will fetch a reward of Rs5,000. PBSA co-chairman Alamgir Anwar Shaikh disclosed that a record number of 22 national and international snooker tournaments appear on their calendar in what promises to be an action-packed year.“It’s a huge challenge for us but we are confident of delivering once more this year,” he stated.