KARACHI, May 12: Though not winning a major event in nearly two years, Khurram Agha of Sindh has been top seeded for the 7th Red and White Style National Ranking Snooker Championship schedule to be held at Karachi Gymkhana from May 23 to 30.

According to a draw released by Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) Monday, Khurram, a losing quarterfinalist in the 2002 World Snooker Championship in Cairo, has maintained his number one status for nearly two years.

Former World and Asian champion Muhammad Yousuf has been seeded behind Khurram in Rs 187,000 prize money championship with winner grabbing Rs 65,000 and runner-up collecting Rs 35,000.

Reigning champion Saleh Muhammad is seeded three and Naveen Perwani is seed number four.

Other four seeded cueists are: Farhan Mirza (5), who will not be taking part in the event, Atiq Latif Bakhsh (6), Imran Shahzad (7) and Shakeel Bhatti (8).

40 cueists including 20 from Sindh, nine from Punjab, seven from Sarhad and four from Balochistan will be featuring in eight-day contest.

According to the programme, all the four top seeds will be in action in the morning session on the first day. Khurram taking on Mustufa Hyder, Yousuf clashing Farhan Noor, Saleh Muhammad pitted against Irfan Rasheed Khan and Naveen Perwani facing veteran Muhammad Hussain from NWFP.

Following are the pools.

Pool “A” Khurram Agha (Sindh), Muhammad Akhlas (Sindh), Raja Rashid (Punjab), Saqib Butt, Mustufa Hyder (Balochistan).

Pool “B” Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh), Shah Khan (NWFP), Faisal Essa (Sindh), Kamran Shah (Balochistan), Farhan Noor (Punjab).

Pool “C” Saleh Muhammad (NWFP), Muhammad Nazir (Punjab), Salman Shaikh (Sindh), Irfan Rasheed Khan (Sindh).

Pool “D” Naveen Perwani (Sindh), Aneel Bherwani (Sindh), Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh), Nauman Awan (NWFP), Muhammad Hussain (NWFP).

Pool “E” Farhan Mirza (Punjab), Arifullah (NWFP), Muhammad Shafiq (NWFP), Masood Ahmed (Sindh), Muhammad Asif (Punjab).

Pool “F” Atiq Latif Bakhsh (KPT), Vishan Gir (Sindh), Shadab Baig (Sindh), Kashif Khan (Sindh), Janan Khan (Balochistan).

Pool “G” Imran Shahzad (Punjab), M.Faiq Malik (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) and Arshad Siddiq (NWFP).

Pool “H” Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh), Minhas Malik (Sindh), Rambel Gul (NWFP), Imran Mughal (Punjab) and Mukhtar Khan (CAA).—APP