KARACHI, May 6: The Ninth Style Ranking snooker tournament gets under way on Saturday at the billiards and snooker hall of the Karachi Gymkhana. Forty of the best snooker players in the country will be vying for the spoils in this one week tournament, with the finals to be played on May 14. Rambel Gul from the NWFP will be defending his title which he won last year after beating Atiq Latif Bux 7-6 in a nailbiting finish with the black ball deciding the issue.

However, after that brilliant performance Rambel has slid down the ladder and is now ranked at No.18. Atiq however, a player who can beat the very best on is day is seeded at No.5.

The players will be divided into eight groups with five players in each group. The tournament will be played on a league basis during the qualifying rounds, with the top two players in each group qualifying for the knock out stages.

The world No.2 Saleh Mohammad is top seeded in this tournament and has already arrived from Bahrain, where is is engaged in coaching the Bahraini national team. The Pakistan skipper Naveen Perwani is at No.2, the former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf at No.3, dangerman Imran Shehzad from the Punjab at No.4, last year’s runner-up Atiq Latif Bux at No.5, Punjab’s Saqib Butt at No.6, Inamur Rehman from the NWFP at No.7, Punjab’s gifted youngsters Shehram Changezi and Abu Saim at No. 8 and 9 and Sindh’s Minhas Malik at No.10.

Two top cueists will be missing from this tournament.

Khurram Hussain Agha held the top spot for several years but has slipped down the rankings and is not participating, so is the former Pakistan No.4 Mohammad Shafiq.

The total prize money in this tournament is Rs1,29000. The winner will receive Rs40,000, the runner-up will go home richer by Rs20,000, while the two semifinalists will pocket Rs10,000 each.

The four quarterfinalists will each receive Rs5000, with the eight pre-quarterfinalists receiving Rs3000 each.

The player notching up the highest break in the tournament will get Rs5000.

Following are the participating players with their seedings in brackets.

GROUP A: Saleh Mohammad (1), Amit Perwani (16), Sohail Shehzad (24), Kamran Razzak (32) and Mohammad Baqar (40).