October 7, 2001	Sunday	Rajab 19, 1422

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KARACHI, Oct 6: The four man Pakistan snooker team, including the manager and three players will leave for Dubai on Monday to contest in the Six Nation snooker championship to be held at the Dubai Snooker Club from Oct 10 to 16.

The team managed by Yousuf Suleman will be skippered once again by Naveen Perwani, with Pakistan No.1 and No.3 Khurram Hussain Agha and No.3 Farhan Mirza, also in the ranks.

The tournament consists of two teams from the host nation UAE “A: and UAE “B”, Pakistan, India, China, Singapore and Egypt. UAE will be defending their title which was won after beating Pakistan 2-1 last year.

This will be the fourth year in a row that the Pakistan team will be visiting the shores of the UAE.

The first was in 1998 in the Three Nation Tournament between Pakistan, India and UAE, with six players representing each country.

The Pakistan team skippered by Mohammad Yousuf, also had Saleh Mohammad, Naveen Perwani, Farhan Mirza, Vishan Gir and Shameel Shah, with Alamgir Sheikh as the manager.

India downed Pakistan 8-4 in the qualifying rounds, but Pakistan bounced back after making it through the final by beating India 7-6. Both teams were locked 6-6 in a very exciting duel enjoyed by the expatriates from both countries, but Saleh Mohammad carried home the glittering trophy for Pakistan after he beat India’s top cueist and two time Asian champion Yasin Merchant 3-1 in the best of five decider.

In 1998 the first Six Nation Snooker tournament began at the same venue, with the hosts UAE, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Egypt in contention.

This time five players represented each country with Naveen Perwani leading the squad. Other members were Saleh Mohammad, Farhan Mirza, Khurram Hussain Agha and Atiq Latif Bakhsh.

Pakistan were beaten 3-2 in the final by Malaysia after getting better of India 4-1 in the semifinals.

Last year, with same nations in contention, Mohammad Yousuf led the squad restricted now to three players. The other members in the team were Saleh Mohammad and Naveen Perwani, with Atiq Latif Bakhsh as standby.

Much to the delight of the snooker fans in Dubai, the UAE shocked Pakistan 2-1 to lift the trophy. Malaysia depending on a Pakistan victory to win the crown again, finished second with Pakistan third and India fourth, followed by Egypt and Thailand.

This will be the first time that Pakistan will be playing without their two most experienced players, the former world and Asian amateur champion Mohammad Yousuf and the former world No.3 Saleh Mohammad.

The team is a very young side averaging 26 years, with Khurram Hussain Agha at 22, the babe of the team.