CONTRARY to 2015, the performance of cueists remained unimpressive globally but off the field 2016 has gone into annals of the game, as for the first time two panels contested the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) elections.

The reason is quite simple. From total four annual competitions (Asian and world for men and under-21) the baize game has grown and brought the charisma of press conferences, lights and cameras of TV channels apart from a few all-expense paid foreign tours in a year and access to dignitaries.

After hectic lobbying, Dec 28 witnessed change of guards with incumbent secretary Munawwar Hussain Shaikh succeeding Alamgir Shaikh at the helm of affairs. As many as 176 persons cast their votes out of 241. The elected officials will hold the office for four years (2016-2020).

The elections as well as the 36th annual general body meeting were also attended by a nominee of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Mohammad Azam Dar as observer.

Munawwar polled 108 votes while his rival former international Sarwar Siddiqui got 66.

Zulfiqar Ramzi earned the nod of secretary securing 109 votes while his opponent, a former PBSF official, Cyrus Kanga got 64.

It’s a good omen that a group of former players and officials have come forward and contested the polls instead of giving their opponent’s an outright victory.

Sarwar’s claim before the election that his group was contesting the polls with a 40-vote handicap of new voters proved true which is quite evident from the results.

If one glances activities of the year one can find that focus remained on foreign tours as instead of four, three national-ranking events were held for the second year running.

The cueists failed to rise to the occasion and managed to win one gold and three bronze medals during the year.

At the outset, national champion Mohammad Bilal, Sohail Shehzad, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sajjad participated in the 32nd Asian snooker championship held at Doha in April.

Asif was the only cueist to reach quarter-finals where he lost to a Thai opponent 4-5 as other three have met their fate earlier.

Pakistan’s dismal run continued in the fifth Asian 6-Reds and fourth team event held at Abu Dhabi from May 18 to 26.

Bilal, Babar Masih, Asjad Iqbal and Asif formed Pakistan team. Again, the quartet could not go beyond quarters in 6-Reds. However, in the team event, Pakistan I (Asif and Asjad) was blanked 3-0 by India I in semis to get a bronze. Earlier, Pakistan 2 lost to Pakistan I in the quarters. Iran I won the team title beating India 3-2 in the final.

The quartet of Bilal, Babar, Sohail and Asjad represented Pakistan in the IBSF 6-Reds and team held at Sharm-el-Sheikh from July 20 to 30.

Bilal and Babar made their exit in the last-64 and last-32 round respectively in the 6-Reds while Sohail and Asjad went down in the pre quarters.

Top pair of Babar and Asjad lost to Wales 2-4 in quarters while sohail and Bilal were eliminated in the last-32.

Fujairah was the next destination as a three-member team participated in the inaugural ACBS Asian Billiards Sports held in September. The team includes Bilal, Babar and Asif. A total of 11 events were held in the competition.

Asif and Babar duo claimed gold in the team event by getting the better of Iran 3-1 in the final.

In 6-Reds, Bilal seized a bronze while losing in the semis while Asif bagged the second bronze losing 0-5 to Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh in the snooker singles semi-final.

Pakistan culminated the year when a six-member team took part in the IBSF world championship at Doha in November. The team comprised Bilal, Asif, Babar (men’s), Naveen Perwani, Imran Shehzad and Azher Khan (master’s).

Babar and Asif lost in the last-32 while Bilal made exit in the last-16.

Naveen and Imran made exit in pre quarters while Azher lost in last-64.

Iran’s Soheil Vahedi crowned world title.

Two-time former national champion Hamza Akbar, who did Pakistan proud by capturing the Asian title at Kuala Lumpur in 2015, made his mark in the professional circuit when he notched up a magnificent 10-5 victory over much superior Jamie Jones in Betferd World Cup qualifiers in April.

On the domestic front, Bilal, Babar and Asif picked one national-ranking title apiece.

Bilal landed his maiden national title when he chalked up a 7-5 victory over former Asian Games bronze medallist in the team event Sohail Shehzad in the final of the 41st national snooker championship on Feb 27.

Similarly, June 4 turned out to be an historic day for Babar Masih who routed Asjad 6-5 to win his maiden national ranking title that enabled him to go on top of the ladder in the ranking list.

Former world amateur snooker champion Asif returned to winning ways when he accounted for Bilal 8-3 to clinch the third ranking event on Aug 22.

The games controlling body doled out Rs250,000 — Rs100,000 apiece to Asif and Babar for winning gold and Rs50,000 for Bilal for getting the bronze.

Iran’s Soheil Vahedi visited Pakistan for a 15-day stint and imparted coaching to a batch of youth at Islamabad in October and after a couple of days went on to become world champion.

Juniors:

Haris Tahir bagged the national under-18 title while M. Saqib crowned national under-21 champion in the two junior events. The former was home 5-3 over Sindh’s Muzammil Khan to clinch the inaugural event in January. In February the under-21 title eluded Haris as he went down to Saqib 5-6 in the final.

Three cueists — Haris, Saqib and Abdul Raheem — featured in the 17th Asian under-21 snooker championship at Colombo. After getting the better of Raheem 4-2 in the last-16, Chinese Wang Yuchen blanked Haris 5-0 in quarters. Saqib could not go beyond league.

The PBSF sent Haris and Saqib on a three-week training at the Asian Academy of World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) in Bangkok in June.

A word of praise for Alamgir:

After assuming charge in 2008, Alamgir followed in the footsteps of his mentor Asghar Valika and bade adieu on a high note. Despite some shortcomings, there are also milestones during his eight-year tenure.

Producing a world champion, a world runner-up, an Asian champion, fetching a total of 27 medals, 6 – 7 – 14, bringing Jubliee Insurance as new sponsor, starting monthly stipend for top eight cueists of national ranking and top two of under-18 and under -21, playing host to four international events, launch of snooker academy at Faisalabad, securing land for the same purpose in Karachi and inviting foreign coach for training are the major milestones that will be hard to emulate.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2017