First snooker event after rules change begins today

KARACHI: A total of 26 cueists will be taking part in the seventh edition of the Langnese Ranking Cup Snooker Championship 2015 which starts here at the Movenpick Hotel Arcade on Thursday (today).
The event has become important for the participants because of the decision of the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) to retain only the top cueists for the next year’s National Championship.
The details of the eight-day tournament were unveiled in a media briefing by Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, president PBSA, on Wednesday.
He defended the move to limit the automatic qualifiers for the next year, saying it would enhance the competition. “We desire to expand the game but at the same time we also wish to concentrate more on the cueists who are serious about their performance,” he said.
“Now only those cueists who occupy the top eight positions in the national rankings will be retained. The others will have to qualify through their respective provincial tournaments. We have also decided to award a couple of wild card entries in the Nationals to the two most deserving cueists, who are unable to make it otherwise,” the PBSA president said.
He announced increase in the prize money of the national ranking tournaments next year and also said there would be four events instead of three in the current year.
The prize money in the 7th Langnese Ranking Cup will be Rs150,000 with the winner to take Rs60,000 and the runner-up Rs35,000. The losing semi-finalists will get Rs15,000 each and the losing quarter-finalists Rs5,000 each. The highest break carries an award of Rs5,000.
The eight seeded cueists for the event are Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Abdul Sattar, Khurram Hussain Agha, Shahram Changezi, Mohammad Bilal, Rambail Gul and Asif Toba.
The 26 participants have been divided in four groups for the preliminary rounds with the top two cueists to advance to the knockout phase starting with the quarter-finals. Both the semi-finals as well as the final will be televised live on Geo Super.
Besides the 24 top cueists of the country, the PBSA, in accordance with its policy, has allowed a couple of junior cueists, Nauman Iqbal and Abdul Rahim, to contest the tournament.
Majid Ali, who had skipped the earlier national ranking event a few days ago due to his studies, will be making a comeback.
Mohammad Sajjad, who had gone down fighting to Mohammad Asif in an epic final of the NBP Championship a couple of weeks ago, is the defending champion.