KARACHI: Pakistan, which has an enviable record in the promotion of baize game globally as well as in the region, will bid to host the 2013 Asian Snooker Championship in Karachi when the general body of the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) meets in Qatar on April 25.

President of the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA), Alamgir Shaikh, will present the bid in the moot on the sidelines of the 28th Asian Snooker Championship. The Asian championship runs from April 20 to 28.

Thailand’s Passakorn Suwannawat is the reigning Asian championship. He had defeated Indian Aditya Mehta 6-2 in the final at Indore for the honours.

Apart from the world championship and other competitions, Pakistan has played host to the Asian spectacles the last being in 2007.

Meanwhile, Pakistan will be represented by two cueists, Mohammad Asif and Sultan Mohammad, who leave for Qatar on April 19. They qualified to represent the country by virtue of attaining the top two slots in the 37th National Snooker Championship earlier this year.

Both Asif and Sultan are currently undergoing training at the camp in Islamabad. They will arrive here on April 18 and leave the following day.

Secretary PBSA Munawar Hussain Shaikh will accompany the team as manager while Shabbir Hussain Daruwala will travel as referee.

Apart from disbursing other items on the agenda, the general body will elect office-bearers for another term of two years.

Sindhu Pulsirivong of Thailand and Syed Mehboob of Bangladesh are the sitting president and secretary respectively of the ACBS.

It may be mentioned that Pakistan’s Ali Asghar Valika has already been elected unopposed as senior executive vice-president.