KARACHI: After a lull, the Independence Day 10th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship, the second domestic event of the year, gets into action at the bank’s sports complex from Sunday.

The details of the competition that features top forty cueists from the three provinces including Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides Islamabad, were announced at a press conference held at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday that unfortunately saw more non-journalists in attendance compared to the bonafide ones.

There will be no cueists from Balochistan as they didn’t feature under the top rankings released after the country’s premier national snooker championship that took place in February.

Outlining salient features of the event, the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president Munawwar Hussain Shaikh said prize money of Rs 1,85,000 has been set aside for the top eight players besides Rs 5,000 for the highest break.

He informed that the winning purse has been enhanced by Rs 40,000 and the champion will receive Rs 0.1m while runner-up earns Rs 40,000.

“The bank has doled out Rs1.3m while the estimated budget is Rs 1.7m,” he told Dawn.

He identified increase of players from 32 to 40, enhancement of winning purse and raise in remuneration of players earlier this year as the factors behind of budget enhancement.

The PBSF chief added that a hectic international schedule awaits cueists in the remaining five months of the year which envisaged Asian Team and Individual Championship at Doha from Sept 19 to 25, three legs of IBSF Asian Tour — Sept 26 to 29 in Doha, Oct 7 to 10 in India and Oct 22 to 25 in China, IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championship at St Petersburg from Sept 30 to Oct 6, IBSF World Snooker Championship — men’s, women’s and master’s — from Nov 17 to 26 at Myanmar, IBSF World 6-Reds and Team Championships in Egypt and IBSF 6-Reds World Cup at Doha, both in Dec.

In between two more domestic events have been planned in the metropolis, he added.

Asked that despite tall claims no progress has been made towards establishing the snooker academy in Karachi, he hoped the issue is likely to take a shape once federal sports minister and DG PSB are appointed.

Responding to another question about falling standard of Sindh, particularly Karachi cueists, he said the player who performs attains top rankings.

“Punjab cueists have overtaken Sindh in top 10 rankings mainly due to their hardwork,” he maintained.

Munawwar also thanked NBP for acknowledging the feat of former world under-18 champion Mohammad Naseem Akhtar by giving him an employment.

Shaukat Mehmood, group chief of the bank, vowed to continue patronage to the baize game under corporate social responsibility in future.

Former Test leg-spinner Iqbal Qasim, who has been re-inducted as bank’s sports chief on contract recently, recalled his long association with the PBSF and hoped to carry it forward from where he had earlier left.

The former PBSF president Alamgir Shaikh also spoke on the occasion and expressed his gratitude to the bank for supporting the game for the last one decade.

Meanwhile, Asjad Iqbal will defend his title in the event which concludes on Aug 13.

Groups:

A: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Rashid Mehmood Abbasi (Islamabad), Ian Mark John (Sindh), Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

B: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Khurram Agha (Sindh), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab).

C: Babar Masih (Punjab), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Mohammad Umar (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab).

D: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Qadeer Abbas (Punjab), Amir Sohail (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Musaddiq Mehmood (Islamabad), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab).

E: Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Imran (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Faizan (Sindh), Umair Alam (Sindh).

F: Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Abdullah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

G: Ali Haider (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab), Abdul Javaid (Punjab).

H: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Farhan Noor (Punjab), Usman Ahmed (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2018