July 25, 2008	Friday	Rajab 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 24: The 17th National Ranking Snooker Cup will be held at the Pakistan Sports Board Complex here from Aug 13 to 16 with 16 top cueists in action.

A handsome purse of Rs 180,000 will be on offer during the four-day competition. The winner of the championship will take home Rs 50,000, while the runner-up will get Rs 30,000, a spokesman of Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) announced on Thursday.

Islamabad-based Shehram Changezi will defend his title in the event. According to the format of the event, after two-day league activity, top two cueists from each of the four pools will advance to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on August 15 and the final on 16th.

As per PBSA ranking, Punjab will be fielding nine players, Sindh six while in-form Saleh Muhammad will be the lone representative from NWFP.

The cueists who have qualified for the event are: Shehram Changezi (Pjb), Muhammad Sajjad Rana (Pjb), Saleh Muhammad (NWFP), Imtiaz Sarwar (Pjb), Imran Shehzad (Pjb), Raees Khan (Pjb), Naveen Perwani (Sindh), Khurram Agha (Sindh) Atif Mughal (Pjb), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Sultan Abbas (Sindh), Vishan Gir (Sindh), M.Asif (Pjb), Muhammad Asif Toba (Pjb), Qasim Kamani (Sindh) Qadeer Butt (Pjb).—APP