KARACHI: The Jubilee Insurance sixth national junior under-21 snooker championship which cues off at Movenpick hotel arcade on Saturday heralds the start of hectic snooker season that awaits cueists to prove their mettle.

The event that also serves as qualifier for the 15th Asian under-21 snooker championship being held at Mohali in India, features 34 cueists including two wildcards. The Asian junior event is slated to take place from April 4 to 10.

The details of the season’s first cue ball event were announced by president of the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) Alamgir Shaikh in a press conference held at Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday. Also present on the occasion among others were managing director of Jubilee Insurance Tahir Ahmed, sponsors of the event, secretary PBSF Munawwar Hussain Shaikh and president Karachi Gymkhana Ali Rahim.

Outlining salient features, PBSF president said the top three finishers of the event will qualify to represent the country in the Asian junior spectacle besides Mohammad Majid Ali, runner-up of the last edition at Gua, India, who has been given a wildcard by the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS).

It is pertinent to mention that Majid went down 5-6 to Thai Noppon Saengkham in the fiercely fought final at Gua.

He said like last year, the PBSF is willing to utilise the services of former world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Yousuf as coach for camp and to accompany the cueists to Mohali.

Alamgir, however, made it clear that the trip to Mohali is subject to release of funds by the government as the federation has not received a penny for the last eight months and its coffers were empty.

Elaborating, he informed the audience about his meeting with Inter-provincial Co-ordination (IPC) secretary Ejaz Chaudhry in Islamabad recently in which the latter assured that funds would be released within 10 days but it’s still a distant dream.

Thanking Tahir Ahmed and Javed Ahmed for lending support to the game, he said the relationship between federation and sponsors has been growing with every passing day.

Tahir said the craze for the game among youth can be gauged from the fact that over 600 players featured in junior qualifiers across the country and best 34 including two wildcards — ex national junior champion Hunain Amir and last year’s runner-up Amir Tariq — will vie for honours. Both have represented the country in the junior global events.

Munawwar Shaikh on behalf of PBSF chairman and executive committee thanked Alamgir on his unanimous election as senior vice-president of the ACBS for the next term of two years which will be effective after May 1 when the annual general body meeting of ACBS takes place.

Ali Rahim also spoke on the occasion.

Meanwhile, according to the format, participants have been drawn into eight groups. After league matches, top two players from each group will qualify for the knockout pre quarter-finals.

Defending champion Mohsin Amin is placed in group F. The championship concludes on Feb 20.

The event carries a total prize money of Rs105,000. The winner will earn Rs40,000 while runner-up gets Rs20,000. The losing semi-finalists and quarter-finalists receives Rs10,000 and Rs5,000 apiece while Rs5,000 has been set aside for highest break.

Groups:

A: Hamza Akbar (Punjab), Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan), Mohammad Adil (Sindh), Mohammad Tasawar-ul-Haq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

B: Mohammad Haris Nadeem (Sindh), Mohammad Kashif (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rabi-ul-Hasan) (Balochistan), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab).

C: Mohammad Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Amin (Balochistan), Mohammad Faheem (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal Farooq (Sindh).

D: Jahan Zaib (Balochistan), Mohammad Junaid Babar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Sumair (Sindh), Mohammad Raheem (Punjab).

E: Representative (Islamabad), Saifullah (Punjab), Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Zubair (Sindh).

F: Mohammad Amin (Punjab), Mohammad Usman Khan (Sindh), Mohammad Ibrahim (Balochistan), Ashar Arshad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

G: Mohammad Fahad Khan (Sindh), representative (Islamabad), Mohammad Sajawal (Punjuab), Mohammad Azam Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Hunain Amir (Punjab).

H: Tayyab Anwar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shehryar Jaffer (Balochistan), Shariq Ali (Sindh), Mohammad Hasan (Punjab), Amir Tariq (Punjab).