KARACHI, March 1 In a surprising development, the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) has revised the groupings of the 35th National Snooker Championship which begins at Karachi Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Local player Mohammad Akmal has earned a place among 34 contestants as Sindh No 5 at the expense of NWFP's Inam-ur-Rehman. In fact, the former finished among the top four of the 18th Sindh Cup, losing 2-5 to eventual champion Abdul Sattar in the semi-final.

The other players who have qualified to represent Sindh include Abdul Sattar, Umair Alam and Farrukh Usman in addition to wildcard Mohammad Yousuf.

Revised groups

A Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Yasir Shehzad (NWFP), Bahadur Baloch (Balochistan).

B Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Mohammad Akmal (Sindh), Farhan Khan (NWFP), Abdul Rauf Kurd (Balochistan).

C Raees Khan (Punjab), Qasim Kamani (Sindh), Nauman Awan (NWFP), Zahoor Ahmed (Balochistan).

D Khurram Agha (Sindh), Rambel Gul (NWFP), Shah Khan (NWFP), Kamran Shah (Balochistan).

E Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Mohammad Jawed (Punjab), Imran Qamar (Punjab), Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh).

F Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Naveen Perwani (Sindh), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Farrukh Usman (Sindh).

G Sharjeel Mehmood (NWFP), Vishan Gir (Sindh), Abdul Qadeer Butt (Punjab), Umair Alam (Sindh), Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh).

H Saqib Butt (Punjab), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Shahram Changezi (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab).