Pak U-16 snooker squad leaves for Russia tomorrow

KARACHI: A three-member Pakistan squad will be flying to Russia on Sunday (tomorrow) to take part in the IBSF World Under-16 Boys Snooker Championships 2019 starting there

next week.

Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), informed ‘The News’ here on Friday that Hamza Ilyas and Muhammad Umar Khan will be the participating cueists while Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, an international referee, will be accompanying them as the manager.

As per details, the three-member Pakistan snooker squad will be leaving Karachi early on Sunday morning and they will be reaching Russia after a brief stopover in Dubai.

The tournament, being staged in the Russian city of Tyumen, will be getting underway on August 19 and it will continue until August 24. The IBSF World Under-16 Girls Snooker Championships 2019 will also be taking place at the same venue simultaneously.

The PBSA President was hopeful of fine performance from the Pakistani cueists in the upcoming global championships.Pakistan’s youngsters have had the knack of performing creditably in the global events. M Naseem Akhtar had won the World Under-18 Snooker Championship just a couple of years ago.

He had annexed the crown in Beijing, China, after overpowering home boy Peifan Lei in July 2017.Hamza Akbar, a two-time national snooker champion, had clinched his first major international title at the age 22 when he famously overshadowed India’s Pankaj Advani in the final in of Asian Snooker Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in April 2015.