Snooker c’ship gets under way today

KARACHI: Mohammad Sajjad will defend his title while Shahram Changezi will be the top seed in the seventh edition of the NBP Snooker Championship 2015 which will get underway here at the NBP Sports Complex in Clifton on Wednesday (today).
An official of the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) confirmed here on Tuesday that there were no dropouts and all the 31 cueists, having been divided in eight groups, would be entering the tournament.
The number of participants had to be reduced by one because of the examination leave granted to Hunain Aamir.
According to the draws, top seeded Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Imran Shahzad (Punjab) and Bahadur Khan (Balochistan) have been placed in the Group A,
The Group B has second seed Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Mohammad Faizan (Sindh) and Mohammad Faheem (Punjab).
Third seed and defending champion Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) has been drawn in the Group C in the company of Amir Tariq (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) and Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).
The Group D comprises fourth seed Babar Masih (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Nauman Iqbal (Islamabad) and Abu Saim (Punjab).
The quartet of fifth seed Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) and Ian Mark John (Sindh) constitute the Group E.
The Group F is composed of sixth seed Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rambail Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sharjeel Mahmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Toufiq Johri (Sindh).
The Group G features seventh seed Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) and Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab).
The Group H has the presence of eighth seed Asif Toba (Punjab), Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir (Sindh), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) and Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh).
The preliminary round matches, to continue until Friday, will be best-of-seven-frame affairs.
The pre-quarter-finals and the quarter-finals will be best-of-nine-frame contests.
The semi-finals will be best-of-11-frame encounters.
The final will be a best-of-13-frame duel.
The total prize money in the seven-day tournament is Rs174,000 with the winner to take home Rs60,000 and the runner-up Rs35,000.
The losing semi-finalists will get Rs15,000 each. The losing quarter-finalists will receive Rs5,000 each.
The losing pre-quarter-finalists will be given Rs3,000 each.
The highest break award carries an amount of Rs5,000.
But the biggest attraction will be a slot in the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2015 due to be staged in Hurghada, Egypt, from November 10 to 21.
The PBSA has declared that the top cueists in the national ranking chart, to be updated after the Championship, will be representing the country in the annual global event.
With top-ranked Hamza Akbar having turned professional, Shahram Changezi, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Babar Masih, Mohammad Imran, Aakash Rafique and Khurram Hussain Agha currently occupy the top seven positions in the national ranking chart.
Asif Toba, Zulfiqar Qadir, Sultan Mohammad, Rambail Gul, Majid Ali, Abdul Sattar and Aamir Tariq have the next seven slots.