Hamza to make debut as National Snooker begins today

KARACHI: The reigning under-16 champion Hamza Ilyas will be making his debut in the Jubilee Insurance National Snooker Championship which cues off here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday (today).

According to the details made available to ‘The News’ by the Tournament Director, Naved Kapadia, here on Tuesday evening there were no dropouts from among the record number of 56 participants for the 11-day event.

“We have not received any communication yet from any of our affiliated units about any cueist's withdrawal. So the draws for the championship, released on Monday, remain unchanged,” he confirmed.

Hamza, hailing from Lahore, is all set to enter the mainstream circuit after winning the inaugural National Under-16 Championship a few months ago. Ahsan Ramzan, another promising teenager from Lahore, will also be making his debut in the National Championship, having qualified from the Punjab Cup. He was the losing semi-finalist in the National Under-18 Championship as well as the National Under-21 Championship earlier this year.

Shaikh Mohammad Mudasshir, the reigning under-18 champion belonging to Rawalpindi, and Ali Haider, who captured the National Under-21 title, coming from Gujranwala, will be reappearing in the Nationals.

The PBSA has awarded wildcard entries to a couple of promising youngsters, Mubashir Raza and Muhammad Shahbaz, to let them get more exposure of competitive snooker at national level.

The 56 participants will be divided in eight groups for the preliminary rounds at the end of which the top two cueists from each group will be advancing to the knockout phase, beginning from pre-quarter-finals. Both the semi-finals as well as the final will be telecast live by

Geo Super.

Babar Masih from Punjab is the top seed for the event while defending champion Muhammad Asif, also from Punjab, is the second seed. Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, the only local cueist in the top eight, is seeded third. Fourth seed Majid Ali and fifth seed Muhammad Bilal hail from Punjab while sixth seed Sharjeel Mahmood is from Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

Seventh seed Shahid Aftab, a former champion, comes from Punjab, while eighth seed Rambail Gul is based in Khyber Pakthunkhwa. The Group A comprises top seed Babar Masih (Punjab), Muhammad Mudassir (Islamabad), Rabish Pervez (Balochistan), Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Fazal Umar Butt (Sindh), Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) and Muhammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

The Group B consists of second seed and defending champion Muhammad Asif (Punjab), Hamza Ilyas (Punjab), Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh), Samiullah (Balochistan) and Mubashir Raza (Punjab).

The Group C features third seed Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh), Shaikh Muhammad Mudassir (Punjab), Aamir Tariq (Punjab), Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad), Bahadur Khan (Balochistan), Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakthunkhwa) and Imran Shahzad (Punjab).

The Group D is composed of fourth seed Majid Ali (Punjab), Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Sultan Muhammad (Sindh), Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan), Abdul Jalil (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Imran Qamar (Punjab) and Ali Raza (Sindh).

The Group E has fifth seed Muhammad Bilal (Punjab), Ali Haider (Punjab), Abdul Raziq (Balochistan), Muhammad Saleem (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Mirza Waqas Baig (Punjab), Farukh Usman (Sindh) and Rashid Aziz (Punjab).

The Group F has sixth seed Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Haris Tahir (Punjab), Shafiullah (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Abdul Majid (Sindh), Saeed Khan (Balochistan), Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) and Danish Haroon (Sindh).

Seventh seed Shahid Aftab (Punjab) leads the pack in the Group G, also having Muhammad Ijaz (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Muhammad Sajjad (Punjab), Ameer Hamza Khan (Islamabad), Habib Shah (Balochistan), and Aamir Sohail (Khyber Pakthunkhwa).

The Group H has Rambail Gul (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakthunkhwa), Abu Saim (Punjab), Munawar Khaliq (Islamabad), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakthunkhwa) and Abdul Hameed (Balochistan).