KARACHI: Pakistani cueists face a tough task in the second half of the year in their bid to make amends following a dismal run in the back-to-back international snooker events abroad during the first six months.

The home players failed to rise to the occasion in the 32nd Asian Snooker Championship at Doha and fourth Asian Team Events and fifth 6-Reds Championships at Abu Dhabi in the recent past.

According to calendar, a hectic schedule which envisaged three international competitions for seniors besides the under-18 and under-21 as well as the domestic activities awaits players after Ramazan.

The first event that will take place is IBSF World 6-Reds and Teams Championships which is being held at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt from July 20 to 30. According to an announcement, the last date of entries has been extended to June 30.

Pakistan No 1 Babar Masih and No 3 Asjad Iqbal have already been selected for the Egypt event while the remaining two will be picked from the probables – Sohail Shehzad, Mohammad Bilal, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Majid Ali – the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president Alamgir Shaikh told Dawn on Thursday.

This will be followed by the inaugural Asian Continental Billiards Sports Championship – snooker, pool and carom – which is slated at Fujairah, UAE, from Sept 30 to Oct 8. Modalities of the events are being worked out.

The international activities culminate with the IBSF 15-Reds World Snooker Championship being held at Doha from Nov 10 to 19.

“Financial constraints have compelled the PBSF to send reigning national under-18 champion Haris Tahir and national under-21 champion Mohammad Saqib to Brussels where the two IBSF events takes place concurrently from Aug 15 to 22,” he added.

In between, two national ranking events – the NBP Cup and the Langnese Cup – will be held from Aug 24 to 31 and Oct 10 to 17 respectively.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2016