KARACHI: The quartet, which excelled in the World and Asian team events at Doha recently, will be under spotlight when the 11th National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship cues off at the bank’s sports complex from Sunday.

Top seed and former national champion Mohammad Bilal and five-time NBP Cup winner Asjad Iqbal clinched the IBSF World Snooker Team Cup while the pair of third seed Zulfiqar Qadir and fifth seed Babar Masih won the Asian Team crown.

It is pertinent to mention that both the teams defeated strong Indian sides in the two finals.

Altogether, 33 cueists — 32 top ranking and one junior — will feature in the annual event that concludes on Aug 3. This year’s event carries Rs185,000 in prize money with the winner set to earn Rs100,000 and the runner-up Rs40,000.

The reigning national under-16 champion Hamza Ilyas who has been given special entry will make his debut.

The cueists, who attain top two positions in the national ranking that will be released after the event, will represent the country in the IBSF

World Cup being held in Turkey in Oct-Nov.

Mohammad Ijaz, sibling of former top player Mohammad Sajjad, will defend his title.

The details of the event were announced by former president of the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) Alamgir Shaikh at a press conference held at Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday. The incumbent president Muna­wwar Shaikh has gone to UAE on private visit.

Also present on the occasion were NBP sports chief and former Test cricketer Iqbal Qasim, PBSF secretary Zulfiqar Ramzi, members of the managing committee Shariq Vohra, Rasheed Jambo, Nisar Bhagat, Imran Razzak, Shabbir Daruwala and media coordinator Naveed Kapadia.

Speaking on the occasion the former PBSF chief said association of the game with bank has completed a decade and was optimistic that it will grow further with the passage of time.

Lauding the role of the bank he said it has given employment to half-a-dozen cueists.

Iqbal assured support for the sport in future also.

Groupings:

Group ‘A’: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Abdul Raziq (Balochistan).

Group ‘B’: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Imran Shahzad (Punjab), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Mohammad Mudassir (Islamabad).

Group ‘C’: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Abu Saim (Punjab), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Group ‘D’: Ali Haider (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab).

Group ‘E’: Babar Masih (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab), Rashid Aziz (Punjab), Imran Qamar (Punjab).

Group ‘F’: Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab), Sharjeel Mahmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Group ‘G’: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Rizwan Hashmi (Sindh).

Group ‘H’: Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Amir Tariq (Punjab), Hamza Ilyas (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019