June 02, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

KARACHI, June 1: Four former champions, including Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf, are among those who will be battling for honours in the 23rd Asian Snooker Championship which begins here from June 11.

According to pools released by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) on Friday, the other past winners of the Asian title are India’s Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar and Jin Long of China.

Yasin was the first to grab the title by ending Thailand’s monopoly at home in 1989. Similarly, Yousuf’s success also came at home in 1998 five years after he reached zenith by capturing the world amateur title at Johannesburg. Alok was next in line who won the title at Jordan in 2004 while Jin stood tall at Thailand two years back.

Being the hosts, Pakistan has been allowed to field five players in a draw of 35. Naveen Perwani, who has rich experience under his belt, will spearhead Pakistan attack while other players are Vishan Gir, Mohammad Yousuf, Khurram Agha and Saleh Mohammad.

The players have been drawn in eight groups. Top two from each group will make it to the pre quarter-finals at the completion of league matches to be spread over three days.

The pre quarter-finals will be played on June 14 followed by quarter-finals on June 15 and semi-finals on June 16. The championship concludes with the final on June 17.

The matches will be played on the eight tables imported for the world championship. The tables were later bought by the PST who had given them to PBSA for the uplift of game.

Pools:

A: Mohammad Shehab (UAE), Chan Hon Kwan (Hong Kong), Kim Do-Hoon (Korea), Ali Nasser Al Obaidly (Qatar), Nguyen Phuc Long (Vietnam).

B: Alok Kumar (India), Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan), Ali Al Dm T Ali (Iraq), Shimon Tauchi (Japan), Henry Boteju (Sri Lanka).

C: Supoj Saenia (Thailand), Monther Al Basry (Bahrain), Amir Sarkhosh (Iran), Khurram Agha (Pakistan).

D: Liu Chuang (China), Puan Yi Wei Alex (Singapore), Saleh Mohammad (Pakistan), Buuveibaatar Enkhtaivan (Mangolia).

E: Jin Long (China), Chan Kwok Ming (Hong Kong), Pham Hoai Nam (Vietnam), Yutaka Fukuda (Japan).

F: Keith E. Boon (Singapore), Thepachaiya Un-Nooh (Thailand), Ochirbold Begzsuren (Magnolia), Mohsen A. Aziz (Qatar).

G: Habib Sabah (Bahrain), Yasin Merchant (India), Vishan Gir (Pakistan), Ahmad Al Abdalt (Iraq).

H: Naveen Perwani (Pakistan), Mohammad Al Joakar (UAE), Jung Tae-Hoon (Korea), Susantha Boteju (Sri Lanka), Soheil Vahedi (Iran).