NBP Ranking Snooker C’ship from September 29

KARACHI: The leading cueists of the country will get back into action for the first time in seven months as the 12th edition of the NBP Ranking Snooker Championship 2020 will be staged here at the NBP Sports Complex from September 29 to October 6.

It’s going to be the first ranking event after the Jubilee Insurance 45th National Snooker Championship 2020 which concluded with an epic final between Muhammad Asif and Shahid Aftab on February 12.

Although the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) has called off all the events for the current year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) has taken the initiative of resuming the national circuit after a break of seven months.

The PBSA has made it mandatory for all the 35 cueists to get tested for Covid-19, in coordination with their respective provincial associations, before reporting for the event. The PBSA has said it would reimburse the testing cost.

PBSA president Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, and co-chairman Alamgir Anwar Shaikh briefed reporters about the eight-day event here at a hotel on Wednesday.

National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) senior vice president Javed Ashraf and sports chief Arshad Hussain were also present on the occasion.

The 35 cueists have been divided in eight groups for the preliminary rounds.

Defending champion and top seed Muhammad Asif (Pjb) is drawn in the Group A along with Rambail Gul (KP), Bahadur Khan (Bal) and Umar Farooq (Pjb).

The Group B comprises second seed Shahid Aftab (Pjb), Muhammad Bilal (Pjb), Muhammad Ali (Sindh) and Sheikh Mudassir (Pjb).

The Group C has the presence of third seed Asjad Iqbal (Pjb), Muhammad Saleem (KP), Asif Toba (Pjb) and Muhammad Ajmal (Pjb).

The Group D is composed of fourth seed Ahsan Javaid (Pjb), Zulfiqar A Qadir (Sindh), Jawed Ansari (Sindh) and Ali Hamza (Sindh).

Fifth seed Babar Masih (Pjb), Muhammad Sajjad (Pjb), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) and Majid Ali (Pjb) constitute the Group E.

The Group F features Mubashir Raza (Pjb), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Ahsan Ramzan (Pjb), Saad Khan (Pjb) and Zubair Tahir (Pjb).

The Group G is comprised of seventh seed Naseem Akhtar (Pjb), Hamza Akbar (Pjb), Rana Irfan (Pjb), Sharjeel Mahmood (KP) and Umer Khan (Pjb).

Eighth seed Ali Haider (Pjb) leads the pack in the Group H in the presence of Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb), Aakash Rafique (KP), Agha Bilawal (Sindh) and Haris Tahir (Pjb).