India’s Pankaj Advani top seeded in 6-Reds World Snooker

KARACHI: Defending champion Pankaj Advani of India has been top seeded for the 6-Reds World Men’s Snooker Championship 2015 which will be getting under way here at Hotel Movenpick on Friday (today).
According to the draws, announced by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) here on Thursday, the 76 participating cueists from 18 countries have been divided in 14 groups for the preliminary rounds.
Pankaj (India), Mohsen Bukshaisha (Qatar), Mohammad Sajjad (Pakistan), Kamal Chawla (India), Rais Senzahi (Afghanistan), Fung Kwok Wai (Hong Kong), Saleh Mohammad (Afghanistan) and Mohamed Shehab (UAE) are the eight seeded cueists in the competition.
The 30-year-old Advani heads the Group A in the presence of Keen Hoo Moh (Malaysia), Hunain Aamir (Pakistan), Mohamed Khairy (Egypt), Li Yingdong (China) and Bashar Hussain Abdul Majeed (Qatar).
Second seed Bukshaisha leads the pack in the Group B, which also has Shahram Changezi (Pakistan), Chris Hart (England), Man Hoi Leong (Hong Kong), Loshaka Perera (Sri Lanka) and Khalil Busaif (Bahrain).
Third seed Sajjad has been drawn in the Group C alongwith Lee Chun Wai (Hong Kong), Varun Kumar (India), Khalid Kamali (UAE), Yousef Alwadi (Saudi Arabia) and Abdulla Mujairan (Bahrain).
Fourth seed Chawla has been placed in the Group D in the company of Babar Masih (Pakistan), Kok Leong Lim (Malaysia), Nansen Sin Man Wan (Hong Kong), Sadiq Alghuraifi (Bahrain) and Sasika Perera (Sri Lanka).
The Group E comprises fifth seed Senzahi, Sourav Kothari (India), Abdul Rahim (Pakistan), Ali Alobaidli (Qatar), Ahmed Galal (Egypt) and Mubeen Mansoor (Sri Lanka).
The Group F has sixth seed Kwok Wai, Stephen Broadhead (England), Majid Ali (Pakistan), Omar Ashiq (Bahrain), Pedram Arteshyar (Iran) and Mohsin Al-Abdulrahman (Qatar).
Seventh seed Saleh stands out in the Group G, also having Chi Wai Au (Hong Kong), Mohammad Bilal (Pakistan), Shahbaz Adil (India) and Ahmed Aseeri (Saudi Arabia). Eighth seed Shehab will be the favourite to top the Group H, which includes Manan Chandra (India), Asif Toba (Pakistan), Nadir Khan Sultani (Afghanistan) and Mohammad Leysi (Turkey).
The Group J is composed of Ahmed Saif (Qatar), Ali Joakar (UAE), Shahid Aftab (Pakistan), Rahul Ajay Sachdev (India) and Omar Alajlani (Saudi Arabia).
The Group K features Dharminder Lilly (India), Sohail Shahzad (Pakistan), Simon Dent (England), Mhanaa Alobaidli (Qatar) and Lin Tang Ho (Hong Kong). Yan Bingtao (China), Asjad Iqbal (Pakistan), Chau Hon Man (Hong Kong), Marwan Alfalasi (UAE) and Abdullah Alshammari (Saudi Arabia) constitute the Group L.
The Group M has Sohail Vahedi (Iran), Shannon Dixon (Australia), Khurram Agha (Pakistan), Varun Madan (India) and Ahmed Janahi (Bahrain).
The quintet of Amir Sarkhosh (Iran), Nigel Howe (England), Mohammad Fahim (Pakistan), Faisal Khan (India) and Salim Ali Alsuwaidi (UAE) constitute the Group N.
The Group P consists of Mohammad Asif (Pakistan), Habib Subah (Bahrain), Ketan Chawla (India), Hamed Zarehdoust (Iran) and Mohammed Alshamsi (UAE).
In the 6-Reds event, the league matches will be best-of-seven-frame contests. The quarter-finals and the semi-finals will be best-of-nine-frame encounters. The final will be a best-of-11-frame affair.