KARACHI: A fierce battle among cueists is on card when the sixth National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Ranking Snooker Championship – the second event of domestic calendar – cues off at the bank’s sports complex on Wednesday.

Domestic snooker tournaments have become an open affair in the recent past and every competition with the exception of NBP event, has thrown a new champion.

Playing in presence of a number of seasoned players, Punjab’s Mohammad Asif Toba surprised all and sundry by becoming the new national champion when he whipped promising Hamza Akbar, also from Punjab, 8-4 in the final played on March 10. The former now heads the national ranking followed by the latter.

Hamza was the only home cueist who made it to the last four of the Asian 6Red following elimination of his compatriots. He went down on the decisive frame 5-6 to Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh.

If one goes by the previous five NBP events, it becomes quite visible that the name of former national champion Asjad Iqbal has become synonymous with it having three titles under his belt in 2010, 2012 and 2013. He is presently ranked third after the 39th national championship.

It is pertinent to mention that Mohammad Sajjad has won the inaugural NBP ranking event in 2009 while Imran Shehzad captured the title in 2011.

Former world amateur snooker champion, Mohammad Asif, is trailing behind at seventh spot in the ranking having lost to his pupil Hamza 3-5 in the quarter-finals of the national’s.

His performance will be under spotlight particularly, after failing to retain his crown in the Asian 6Red event at home recently.

As many as 14 matches are on card in four sessions on the opening day. Asif is slated to face Abdul Raheem in the first session at 10am.

Defending champion Asjad, who is on course to make it three-in-a-row, is pitted against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Fawad Khan in the second session at 12noon.

Top two players from eight groups will qualify for the knockout pre quarter-finals on completion of league. The event concludes on Sept 18.

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Aneel Emanuel (Sindh), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Mohammad Faiq Malik (Punjab), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Abdul Raheem (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 12noon: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Mohammad Faheem (Punjab), Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Mohammad Nazeer (Punjab).

At 2pm: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) v Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab) v Mohammad Haris Nadeem (Sindh), Khizar Aziz (Sindh) v Khurram Hussain Agha (Sindh), Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Najeebullah Khan (Balochistan).

At 4pm: Farhan Noor (Punjab) v Mujtahid Ali Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) v Mohsin Amin (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, September 10th , 2014