KARACHI: With the emergence of a couple of junior cueists to the fore, the country’s premier 41st National Snooker Champi­onship which cues off at a local hotel on Monday, cannot provide smooth sailing to half-a-dozen former champions and other aspirants.

This is evident from the fact that former Asian junior No. 2 Mohammad Majid Ali defied pressure by making it to the finals of the last national ranking event where he went down 4-8 to the former world amateur champion Mohammad Asif.

Defending champion Hamza Akbar, who scaled new heights by capturing the Asian title at Malaysia last year, will not defend his title as he is away competing in the IBSF pro-circuit.

The six former national champions — Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Khurram Agha, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Aftab and Mohammad Asif Toba — are among the 52 cueists who are set to vie for honours in the annual event which will conclude on Feb 27.

The number of participants has risen from 51 to 52 following late induction of wild card Mohammad Faheem. Two other wild cards were Hunain Amir and Mohammad Yousuf.

According to the break-up, the top 12 players of the national rankings were joined by eight players apiece from Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six from Balochistan, two from Islamabad, five juniors and three wild cards.

The players have been drawn into eight groups and top two from each will advance into the knockout quarter-finals.

Groups:

A: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Abdul Raheem (Punjab), Bahadur Khan (Balochistan), Farhan Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Afzaal (Punjab), Agha Bilawal (Sindh).

B: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Abdul Javed (Punjab), Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Abdul Rehman (Balochistan), Ian Mark John (Sindh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab).

C: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab), Nadir Miraan (Punjab), Sarbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ahmed Shah (Balochistan), Mohammad Iftekhar Khan (Sindh).

D: Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Mohammad Saqib (Punjab), M. Nouman Iqbal (Islamabad), Mohammad Kashif Khan (Sindh), Abu Saim (Punjab), Aamir Shahzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

E: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Abdul Raziq (Balochistan), Muzammil Khan (Sindh), Rashid Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Mohammad Faheem (Punjab).

F: Babar Masih (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Jawed (Punjab), Khurram Agha (Sindh), Ubaid Khan (Balochistan), Hunain Amir (Punjab).

G: Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Raja Rashid (Islamabad), Farhan Noor (Punjab), Mohammad Jawaid Ansari (Sindh), Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab).

H: Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Zulfiqar Qadir (Sindh), Saeed Ahmed (Balochistan), Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Aqeel (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Monday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Asif v Agha Bilawal, Mohammad Sajjad v Mohammad Ijaz, Mohammad Bilal v Mohammad Iftekhar Khan, Shahram Changezi v Aamir Shahzad.

At 12noon: Mohammad Majid Ali v Mohammad Faheem, Babar Masih v Hunain Amir, Shahid Aftab v Mohammad Yousuf, Sharjeel Mehmood v Mohammad Aqeel.

At 2pm: Imran Shehzad v Mohammad Asif Toba, Abdul Sattar v Ubaid Khan, Rambel Gul v Mohammad Jawed Ansari, Sultan Mohammad v Fawad Khan.

At 4pm: Abdul Raziq v Rashid Mehmood, Aakash Rafique v Khurram Agha, Sohail Shehzad v Farhan Noor, Asjad Iqbal v Saeed Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2016