National Snooker Championship cues off today

KARACHI: The Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020 will be cueing off here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Sunday (today), a couple of days later than originally planned.

The Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), having earlier set January 31 as the starting date for the event, has announced that the Nationals 2020 will now be staged at the same venue from February 2 to 12.

A total of 56 cueists, representing the affiliated provinces, units and departments, will be in action at the Karachi Gymkhana.

The participants have been 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 starting with pre-quarter-finals.

According to the draws released by the PBSA here on Saturday, the Group A comprises top seeded Muhammad Asif, Shaikh Mudassir, Rambail Gul, Ameer Hamza, Jawed Ansari, Saqib Bashir and Muhammad Nazeer.

The Group B has second seed Muhammad Bilal, Saad Khan, Munawwar Khaliq, Rabish Pervez, Aakash Rafique, Ahsan Jawaid and Shariq Ali.

Third seed Asjad Iqbal leads the pack in the Group C in the presence of Umar Khan, Shan Naimat, Sharjeel Mahmood, Ali Haider Muhammad Hashmi and Asif Toba.

Fourth seed Muhammad Sajjad heads the Group D, which also has Umar Farooq, Bahadur Khan, Abdul Sattar, Maisam Zaidi and Muhammad Imran.

Fifth seed Sohail Shahzad has been placed in the Group E along with Haris Tahir, Zubair Tahir, Ali Hamza, Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Aftab and Ahsan Ramzan.

The Group F has sixth seed Muhammd Ijaz, Abdul Sattar, Muhammad Saleen, Muhammad Ajmal and Ali Raza.

Seventh seed Babar Masih is drawn in the Group G alongwith Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir, Khizar Aziz, Ibrahim Khan, Majid Ali, Ahmed Shah and Muhammad Ali.

The Group H consists of eighth seed Naseem Akhtar, Mubashir Raza, Rana Irfan, Agha Bilawal, Aamir Shahzad, Abdul Ghafoor and Muhammad Yaqoob.

Today’s fixtures: Muhammad Bilal (SBP) v Shariq Ali (Sindh); Saad Khan (KP) v Ahsan Javaid (Pjb); Munawwar Khaliq (Isb) v Aakash Rafique (KPK); Muhammad Asif (NBP) v Muhammad Nazeer (Pjb); Shaikh Mudassir (SBP) v Saqib Bashir (Bal); Rambail Gul (KP) v Jawed Ansari (Sindh); Muhammad Sajjad (NBP) v Muhammad Imran (KP); Umar Farooq (Pjb) v Maisam Zaidi (Sindh); Bahadur Khan (Bal) v Abdul Sattar (Isb); Asjad Iqbal (NBP) v Asif Toba (Pjb); Umar Khan (Pjb) v Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh); Shan Naimat (Isb) v Ali Haider (SBP); Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) v Obaid Khan (Bal); Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Usman Ahmed (KP); Muhammad Saleem (KP) v Ali Raza (Sindh); Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) v Ahsan Ramzan (SBP); Haris Tahir (NBP) v Shahid Aftab (Pjb); Zubair Tahir (Pjb) v Saif Ali Khan (Bal); Naseem Akhtar (NBP) v Muhammad Yaqoob (KP); Mubashir Raza (Pjb) v Abdul Ghafoor (Bal); Rana Irfan (Pjb) v Aamir Shahzad (KP); Babar Masih (Pjb) v Muhammad Ali (Sindh); Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh) v Ahmed Shah (Bal); Khizar Aziz (Sindh) v Majid Ali (NBP).