PAKISTAN snooker witnessed two contrasting scenarios in a span of almost one year — from Dec 2018 to Nov 2019. Celebrated cueist Mohammad Asif, who was a persona non grata and barred to travel with the Pakistan team to Egyptian city of Marsa Alam to compete in World 6-Reds and Team Event by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF), suddenly became a hero for re-capturing the world title for second time at Doha.

Quartet of senior cueists including pre-selected Asif and Babar Masih, along with Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Sajjad and the games controlling body came at loggerheads after former took the plea to sign the annual central contract before start of season in Jan 2019 to which the latter refused.

Eventually, the cueists signed the central contract on Jan 6 and were asked to withdraw their complaint lodged with the PSB.

In this backdrop and after a wait of seven years, Asif once again did the country proud to emulate the feat of four cueists in winning the world title twice. Indian Pankaj Advani, however, stood tall for crowning three world snooker titles. Asif’s meteoric rise to the top of world ladder again was the major silver lining of the year that has just ended.

The 37-year-old Asif, who was seeded second for the knockout round, bulldozed unseeded Jefrey Roda of Philippines 8-5 with the scores being 68-35, 88-0, 69-17, 28-73, 5-118, 93-0, 69-1, 72-57, 10-93, 77-4, 21-65, 54-66, 68-51 in the epic final in the Turkish port city of Antalya. It is pertinent to mention that Asif had laid his hands on the world title earlier at Sofia in Bulgaria in 2012.

All in all, Pakistani cueists fetched four gold, three silver and five bronze medals in the global competitions and carried country’s flag aloft.

Two of the remaining three gold medals came in the team events courtesy Babar, Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Asian Team Event) at Doha in June and Asjad, Mohammad Bilal (IBSF World Team Cup) at the same venue. In both the finals Pakistan’s opponent was India.

In an all-Pakistan final, Asjad coasted to 7-6 victory over Bilal to capture gold in the inaugural Saarc Snooker Championship at Dhaka in Sept.

Babar went down to Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh 4-7 to get silver in Asian 6-Reds while Asif earned silver in IBSF World 6-Reds at Mandalay, Myanmar, also in Sept after losing to Indian Laxman Rawat 5-6 in the final besides Bilal’s Saarc silver.

The cueists who returned with bronze include Bilal (inaugural IBSF-Qatar 6-Reds World Cup), Asjad and Babar (35th Asian Snooker), Asjad (Asian Asian 6-Reds) and Umer Khan (IBSF world U-16 at Tyuman, Russain.

The International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) which governs the sports has allegedly created a mess by raising a number of world competitions for men’s. For instance, it organised five world events in 2019 – World Championship, World 6-Reds Championship, World Team Championship, 6-Reds World Cup and Team World Cup.

These are in addition to U-16, U-18, U-21 (boys) and U-16, U-21 (girls), IBSF World Championship and IBSF World Team Championship (Masters), World Championship, World Team Championship and World 6-Reds Championship (women’s). This makes the tally to 15.

In the past, the PBSF has been making funny claims that the government owes millions of rupees to the cueists for their various triumphs in global events. Suppose if Pakistani cueists win all the five men gold the PBSF will claim Rs50m from the government. ‘Is that justified’?

It is on record that the government had always been kind enough and rewarded medal winners in cash and kind, civil awards and even departmental promotions from time to time in the past.

On the domestic front, Bilal captured the 44th National Snooker Championship by getting the better of Asjad 8-4 in the final on March 30th to claim top spot in national ranking.

Asif, who was ranked seventh after the national’s, surged to the top by winning the 11th NBP Cup on Aug 3 inflicting 8-7 defeat on Mubashir Raza. Asif also claimed the third ranking event on Oct 17 defeating former national champion Sajjad 7-4. The triumph helped Asif retain No 1 slot.

Hamza Ilyas, Sheikh Mohammad Mudassir and Ali Haider returned with flying colours in National U-16, U-18 and U-21 events respectively while Abu Saim become new Masters champion.

Contrary to past practices, no camps were organised for cueists prior to their participation in international events due to financial constraints.

Yet another year passed without the launch of Pakistan Snooker League, reviving fourth ranking event and setting up a proper academy.There’s no discussion or long term planning to fulfill the promises that the PBSF highups have repeatedly made in their press conferences.The PBSF is solely dependant on PSB funding and no plans are in pipeline to raise funds or curtail expenses

The much-talked about academy that was setup at University of Agriculture Faisalabad is not functioning since long. The PBSF should take possession of their two tables before they get damaged.

It appears that the hierarchy of the game is satisfied and surviving on players’ medal count rather then creating new avenues and expanding the game at district and divisional levels besides bring ing Gilgit-Baltistan, AJK, Fata and Nothern areas into its fold like Islamabad.

By not doing so, the PBSF is violating the PSB constitution which is obligatory for all national sports federations.

The 2020 is the year of elections of PBSF, its regional body the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) and the world body the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF).

The incumbent PBSF President Munawwar Hussain Shaikh completes his first term in 2020 and still has one more to go if he desires so. Senior vice-president Jawed Karim is the best choice in case the incumbent president shows his unwillingness to continue. The latter is the secretary of Karachi Club and can play a role to mend sour relations between PBSF and KC.

It may be recalled that the KC had played unparallel role under elderly Asghar Valika when he was at the helm of both institutions – PBSF and KC.

Qatar has monopolised the ACBS and IBSF. Mohamed Salem Al-Nuaimi heads the ACBS while ex-ACBS chief Mubarak Al-Khayarin is at the helm of IBSF.

Despite government’s enormous annual and special grants of over Rs 30m during the last five years, the cueists were compelled to bore expenses of their return air tickets on many foreign trips.

Asif also made an unsuccessful attempt in snooker Q School in England in the middle of the year. He spent money from his own pocket and featured in three tournaments in a bid to qualify for pro-circuit but could not succeed.

It is pertinent to mention that a philanthropist had doled out Rs 2m to Asif for the same purpose in 2012 following his world championship feat but then he didn’t spend the amount.

It is a good omen that State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was kind enough to offer employment to three junior cueists – national U-18 champion Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir, national U-21 champion Ali Haider and U-18 semi-finalist Ahsan Ramzan — besides Mohammad Bilal as coach.

Acting on a petition, the honourable Sindh High Court has suspended the Sindh Billiards and Snooker Association (SBSA) and appointed the parent body, the PBSF, as administrator for holding the provincial cup in a non-biased and transparent manner besides setting the house in order.

The PBSF should also do away with the practice of encouraging non-deserving cueists to travel abroad for competing in events at their own cost. Umer Khan, losing semi-finalist of National U-16 went to Russia at his own cost at the expense of runner-up Kamran Albert who can’t afford the air ticket.

The same procedure was applied in sending Umer’s father Azher Khan to compete in the IBSF Masters in the past despite the fact that he had never featured in the PBSF domestic circuit.

A word of praise is due for managing director of Jubilee Insurance Tahir Ahmed who bade adieu to the firm on Dec 31. During his association with PBSF as major sponsor for over a decade, he lent all out support besides giving the idea to launch national U-16, U-18 and U-21 events.

The year, at the fag end, received a sad news when Abdul Ghaffar, father of international referee and PBSF media coordinator Naveed Kapadia, died in a road accident when his son was away in Antalya. Naveed received the sad news while supervising a match of the world championship and rushed home to attend the funeral.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2020