Indian cueists, officials get Pakistan visas

KARACHI: The Indian contingent has been issued Pakistani visas for the World 6-Reds and Team Championships 2015 for men, women and masters due to start here at Hotel Movenpick on Thursday (tomorrow).
“The 22 cueists of India and their officials have been issued visas and we have received the flight schedule of 15 of them, who will reach Karachi tomorrow,” Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSA) president, disclosed at a media briefing on Tuesday.
Cueists from 18 countries, including hosts Pakistan, will participate in the snooker championships which will continue for 10 days.
The other foreign countries having confirmed their participation are Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, China, Egypt, England, Hong Kong, Iran, Latvia, Malaysia, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The men’s 6-Red event carries a prize purse of $8000, while women’s event carries $3000. The men’s team event carries a prize purse of $6000, while the master’s team event carries $2500.
India’s Pankaj Advani is the defending champion of men’s 6-Red event.
Hong Kong will be defending men’s team event title.
The PBSA president regretted the non-participation of Thailand, one of the major continental cue sports countries. “We are shocked at this. Whatever the reasons, we really didn’t expect them not to be a part of these events,” he added.
Alamgir Shaikh played down the lack of participation of many European and other major snooker nations. “We understand their problems. Some countries faced finanicial constraints while the others had the issues of travel advice from their governments. We were hoping to have 25 countries here but we are happy with 18 now,” he observed.
The PBSA acknowledged the top officials of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) and the Ministry of Interior for the issuance of the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the Indian players and officials which cleared the way for their participation in event.
Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui announced on this occasion a reception on behalf of the citizens of Pakistan in honour of all the participating cueists and their officials on the Independence Day of Pakistan (August 14).
Tahir Ahmed, Jubilee General Insurance Managing Director, said the return of international snooker to Pakistan delighted him.
The entire Pakistan contingent, dressed in the national blazer, attended the media briefing.
Joseph Lo of Hong Kong, who is the Honorary Treasurer of the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS), has been appointed the Tournament Director.
He has already arrived in the city and held meetings with the local technical officials, Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, Shoaib Alam Khan, Arif Taherbhoy and Naved Kapadia.