KARACH: Country’s top 38 cueists are set to vie for honours when the sixth NBP Ranking Snooker Championship – the second ranking event of the calendar – gets into action at their sports complex from Wednesday.

Originally, 40 players were supposed to take part in the event but the field was reduced following withdrawal of Kamran-ur-Rehman and Allah Noor from Balochistan.

The players, who will attain top two rankings in the new list after the event, will be eligible to represent the country in the IBSF world snooker championship being held at Bangalore from Nov 18 to 29.

The details pertaining to the event were announced by head of the bank’s sports division and former Test cricketer, Iqbal Qasim, at a press conference held at Karachi Gymkhana on Monday. Also present on the occasion were Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president, Alamgir Shaikh, secretary, Munawwar Hussain Shaikh and Karachi Gymkhana president Ali Rahim.

Iqbal Qasim presented a cheque of one million rupees to the PBSF chief for staging the annual event which among others include total prize money of Rs1,74,000.

According to break-up, the winner gets Rs60,000 while the runner-up earns Rs35,000 apart from losing semi-finalists, quarter-finalists, pre quarter-finalists and highest break purse.

The NBP sports chief assured that the bank will continue its support to the game which is evident from the fact that four cueists – Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Asjad Iqbal and Mohammad Majid Ali – are employed in the financial institution.

Speaking on the occasion, Alamgir outlined salient features of the event besides highlighting activities that are planned in the last quarter of the year.

Ali Rahim also spoke on the occasion and welcomed the guests.

Groups:

A: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Khizar Aziz (Sindh), Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh).

B: Hamza Akbar (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Najeebullah Khan (Balochistan).

C: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Farhan Noor (Punjab), Mujtahid Ali Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

D: Sohail Shhzad (Sindh), Amir Tariq (Punjab), Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab), Mohsin Amin (Punjab), Mohammad Faheem (Punjab).

E: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Aneel Emanuel (Sindh).

F: Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Nazeer (Punjab), Mohammad Faiq Malik (Punjab).

G: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Abdul Raheem (Punjab).

H: Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab), Mohammad Haris Nadeem (Sindh), Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn, September 9th , 2014