KARACHI, June 14: There is a likelihood that snooker will make its debut in the 32nd National Games as modalities between Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) and the interim committee of POA are being worked out and expected to reach a final conclusion very soon.

The Games run from June 28 to July 4 at Islamabad.

“We are waiting for the proposed budget allocation from the interim committee and will decide the format after receiving it in writing,” a top official of the PBSF said on Friday.

When approached, PBSF President, Alamgir Shaikh, told Dawn that the interim committee had extended an invitation to the PBSF requesting to become a medal sport in the spectacle and arrange the event that features four provincial teams and Islamabad.

“The format, formation of teams, number of officials etc would be decided once we receive details pertaining to total budget that has been set aside for arranging snooker event,” he said adding that this is apart from sending referees and scorers for successfully staging the show.

Alamgir said the PBSF has decided to field best teams for the Games as per the national rankings after the setback of staying away from the fourth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which are being held in South Korean city of Incheon from June 29 to July 6.It is pertinent to mention that the participation of cueists in the National Games will go into the annals of the game as a historic occasion.

It is, indeed, a pity that despite winning numerous laurels at international level over the years, snooker has failed to get a breakthrough in the Lt. Gen Syed Arif Hasan’s POA umbrella.

“We’ve spent a lot of our energies in completing the formalities time and again to get into the POA fold besides changing our nomenclature from PBSA to PBSF, but unfortunately our efforts have failed to bear fruitful results at least during the last one decade,” a dejected Alamgir said.

He sounded confident that the interim committee of POA will support the cue sport where a long list of achievements alone are a true indicator of its strength and popularity.