April 23, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 05, 1428

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KARACHI, April 22: Cueist Saleh Mohammad, who betrayed the country by representing neighbouring Afghanistan at the Doha Asian Games in December, was pardoned for his act by Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) as he returns to the domestic circuit on Monday.

The former World No 2 who last featured in the 31st National championship in March 2006 losing to eventual champion Khurram Agha 1-6 in the semi-final failed to show up in the following ranking events leading to his ouster from top 32, criterion for participation.

He is drawn to meet Abu Saim at 10am in the Style Snooker Championship after more than a year layoff, according to fixtures released by PBSA on Saturday night.

His reappearance which paves way for him to prove his mettle and earn selection in Pakistan team for the upcoming Asian meet at home will be violation of rules framed by the games controlling body.

In a similar act, PBSA has recently allowed entry to Farhan Mirza to feature in national contest at Karachi Gymkhana last month. However, Farhan who returned from Sweden failed to come up to the mark.

This was preceded by his sojourn to Doha for Asian Games with Pakistan team which returned empty-handed.

Veteran Mohammad Yousuf, who has slipped to 10th spot in the latest national rankings, will start the defence of his crown when he meets Shahid Shafiq on the opening day.

Naveen Perwani, who has surged to top slot in the rankings after winning maiden national crown recently, faces Javed Ansari in the opener.

The event carries a total prize money of RS158,000 with winner getting Rs50,000 and runners up Rs30,000. The final is slated for April 28.

The event serves as curtain-raiser for the Asian event with the hosts struggling to regain lost pride as the standard has fallen drastically.

Monday’s fixtures:

Mohammad Shahid v Asim Ghani, Vishan Gir v Qasim Kamani, Naveen Perwani v Javed Ansari, Abu Saim v Saleh Mohammad at 10am; Atif Mughal v Kashif Khan, Raees Khan v Mustafa Hyder, Khurram Agha v Sharjeel Mehmood, Imran Shehzad v Farrukh Usman at 12noon; Mohammad Nazeer v Shehram Changezi, Salman Shaikh v Rambel Gul, Irfan R. Khan v Mohammad Riaz, Shah Khan v Mohammad Asif at 2pm; Imtiaz Sarwar v Saqib Butt, Imran Qamar v Kamran Razzak, Sohail Shehzad v Mohammad Afzal, Mohammad Yousuf v Shahid Shafiq at 4pm.