KARACHI, March 12 The 34th NJI National Snooker championship, which carries a total purse of Rs115,000, springs into action at the Karachi Gymkhana on Monday sans at least two former champions Mohammad Yousuf and Saleh Mohammad, besides Shahram Changezi.

Yousuf, the former world amateur snooker champion, has not qualified for the event while Saleh has hanged up his cue. As for Shahram, he has opted out due to studies.

The details of the country's premier annual championship of the game were announced at a press briefing held at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.

Punjab's Mohammad Sajjad, who claimed his maiden national crown inflicting impressive 7-3 defeat on Saleh in the final at the same venue last year, will defend his title. He is drawn to meet Balochistan's Abid Hussain in the opener.

National junior champion Asjad Iqbal along with two losing semi-finalists Mohammad Afzal and Agha Bilawal have made up for the three dropouts - Saleh, Imtiaz Sarwer and Shahram - in the list of 32 contestants, the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) president Alamgir Shaikh said.

According to Alamgir, juniors will be given wildcards in case of further dropouts.

When asked why Yousuf was not offered wildcard he said the celebrity has not approached the PBSA. He admitted PBSA had earlier given wildcards to Saleh and Naveen.

Yousuf, it may be mentioned, was knocked out by Shahram in pre quarter-finals of the last national championship.

He disclosed all the 32 players will sign central contracts a day before the start of the competition.

Referring to the expenses, he said the sponsors have doled out Rs0.7million while the PBSA has received fifty percent of the total amount courtesy federal sports minister.

According to the format, the players have been equally drawn in eight groups.

Top two from each will advance to the knockout pre quarter-finals. The final will be played on March 21.

Top two players of the event will earn a ticket for the 25th Asian snooker meet which is being held in Chinese city of Tangshan from May 2 to 10.

According to prize money break-up, the winner will earn Rs40,000 while the runner up gets richer by Rs30,000.

Groups

Pool 'A' Khurram Agha, Agha Bilawal, Nauman Awan, Naeem Jaffer.

Pool 'B' Naveen Perwani, Mohammad Afzal, Sharjeel, Bahadur.

Pool 'C' Qasim Kamani, Asjad Iqbal, Inam-ur-Rehman, Kamran Shah.

Pool 'D' Mohammad Sajjad, Qadeer Butt, Rambel Gul, Abid Hussain.

Pool 'E' Imran Shahzad, Mohammad Asif Toba, Mohammad Jawed, Javed Ansari.

Pool 'F' Sultan Mohammad, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Naeem, Ishtiaq.

Pool 'G' Raees Khan, Sohail Shahzad, Saqib Butt, Shadab Baig.

Pool 'H' Vishan Gir, Atif Mughal, Mohammad Nazir, Umair Alam.