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| May 22, 2003 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 19,1424 |
Khurram Agha retains top spot
KARACHI, May 21: The much awaited Seventh Red & White Style Snooker Championship begins on Friday, May 23, at the Karachi Gymkhana.
The second ranking tournament in a series of four held every year, 40 of the top cueists in the country vie for the top honours.
Saleh Mohammad, ranked No.3, will be defending his title he won last year, when he beat Mohammad Yousuf 6-2.
Khurram Hussain Agha once again gets the top billing, with former World and Asian amateur champion, Mohammad Yousuf ranked at No.2.
The same could be said about Saleh Mohammad, who missed the 2001 Nationals held in Quetta due to unforeseen circumstances.
Pakistan’s two most celebrated cueists, winning countless laurels for the country are presently just two points behind Khurram with 70 points each, but Yousuf pinched the second spot after he beat Saleh 7-4 in the Nationals.
Khurram, oozing with talent has held the No.1 spot for the last 18 months, but he will have to bring out his best to keep both Yousuf and Saleh at bay, with the two breathing down his neck.
Yousf said that with such a lot of talented youngsters presently in the circuit, all going all out to topple him, he will try his level best to regain the top spot he held for so many years in the past.
Saleh, presently on a coaching assignment in Bahrain, will also go all out to overtake his arch rival Yousuf.
Soft spoken Naveen Perwani is seeded at No.4, four points behind Khurram, while former National and Junior champion Farhan Mirza from the Punjab is rooted at No.5 with 61 points.
However, it was learnt that Farhan will not be contesting in this tournament as he is in Sweden, where he is presently based.
Also missing from the tournament will be Balochistan’s top notcher Kamran Shah, who is getting married.
Atiq Latif Bux, scion of the former Pakistan champion Late Latif Amir Bux, another lad with loads of talent, is ranked at No.6 and promising Imran Shehzad from Lahore is at No.7.
Sindh’s bearded Shakeel Bhatti, who has beaten the best on his day, is at No.8, and another player from Sindh Minhas Malik is at No.9.
Bespectacled M. Faiq Malik also from Lahore, has done well to grab the No.10 spot, especially when he came into the limelight only last year.
Gifted left-hander Vishan Gir, dropping down the ladder is seeded at No.11 and veteran NWFP cueist Arifullah is at No.12.
The players will be divided into eight groups with the best of seven frames deciding the qualifiers for the last 16.
Arif Taherbhoy, joint secretary PBSA said Sindh had the largest contingent with 18 players, followed by Punjab (10), with the absence of Farhan Mirza, NWFP (7) and Balochistan (3), with the absence of Kamran Shah.
The tournament gets under way on Friday at 10 a.m. sharp and 16 matches will be played daily upto the qualifying rounds that ends on May 27.
The pre-quarterfinals will be played the following day in the best of nine frames, with the quarters in the best of nine frames and the best of 11 semifinals to be held on the same day on May 29.
The final will be decided on May 30, also in the best of 11 frames.
Total prize money in this tournament will be Rs.1,87000, with the winner taking home Rs.60,000 plus the glittering trophy and the runner-up receiving a cheque for Rs.35,000 along with his trophy.
The two semifinalists will each receive Rs.15,000, along with their trophies and the four quarterfinalists will be picking up Rs.8000, each, along with their silverware.
The eight pre-quarterfinalists will also be rewarded with Rs.3000, each and the cueist achieving the highest break during the tournament, going home with Rs.6000.
Following are the contestants.
GROUP A
Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Mohammad Akhlas (Sindh), Raja Rashid (Punjab), Saqib Butt (Punjab) and Mustafa Hyder (Balochistan).
GROUP B
Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh), Shah Khan (NWFP), Faisal Essa (Sindh) and Farhan Noor (Punjab).
GROUP C
Saleh Mohammad (NWFP), Mohammad Nazir (Punjab), Salman Shaikh (Sindh), Raees Khan (Punjab) and Irfan R. Khan (Sindh).
GROUP D
Naveen Perwani (Sindh), Aneel Bherwani (Sindh), Ahmer Shaikh (Sindh), Nauman Awan (NWFP) and Mohammad Hussain (Balochistan).
GROUP E
Arifullah (NWFP), Mohammad Shafiq (NWFP), Masood Ahmed (Sindh) and Mohammad Asif (Punjab).
GROUP F
Atiq Latif Bux (Sindh), Vishan Gir (Sindh), Shadab Baig (Sindh), Kashif Khan (Sindh) and Janan Khan (Balochistan).
GROUP G
Imran Shehzad (Punjab), M. Faiq Malik (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Yousuf Haroon (Sindh) and Arshad Siddiq (NWFP).
GROUP H
Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh), Minhas Malik (Sindh), Rambel Gul (NWFP), Imran Mughal (Punjab) and Mukhtar Khan (Sindh).
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