KARACHI: The inaugural 6-Red Snooker Championship will be held in Karachi in December, President of the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) Alamgir Shaikh announced on Monday.

“With the growing popularity of 6-Red, we are launching this event to prepare our cueists in this brand of snooker,” he told APP.

Shaikh said the New Jubilee Insurance Cup, the third national ranking event, will be held at Karachi Gymkhana Billiards Hall from October 23 to 29.

According to the PBSA chief, one top cueists after the third ranking event will earn the right to represent Pakistan in IBSF World Snooker Championship to be held in Banglore, India, in November.

“PBSA reserves the prerogative to select the second player for the event on the basis of current form, ranking and past international track record.”

Shaikh said the fourth ranking event will be held here in November and this will serve as a warm-up for World Snooker Championship.

“Top 16 cueists from across the country will be featuring in the toughest national event,” he said.

The PBSA also announced that the world's top snooker table manufacturer Shandar will be providing four complimentary tables to the federation as part their support for snooker in the country.

“We will be getting these four tables from Shandar within four to six weeks and they will be placed in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad.”

The manufacturers met with Shaikh during the World Snooker Championship in Damascus, Syria, last year and committed to support the game in Pakistan.