KARACHI, Sept 2: Imran Shahzad, a member of the bronze medal winning Pakistan team at the Doha Asian Games, regained his top slot in the latest national rankings released by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) after the second event of domestic calendar, the fifth NBP ranking snooker championship which concluded in the city recently.

The 38-year-old Imran, who is one of the most experienced cueists in the circuit, was earlier placed second in the ranking list after playing the final of the 38th National Snooker Championship in March where he went down to young prodigy Hamza Akbar 7-8 in the fully stretched battle.

However, despite bowing out to eventual champion Asjad Iqbal 3-6 in the semi-final of the NBP snooker event, Imran took a step forward succeeding Hamza on the top by accumulating 17 points from two events.

Asjad, who won the NBP title for an overall third time recently, took a leap of nine places to attain second spot in the rankings. Previously, he was placed 11th.

National champion Hamza though slipped to third place but is bracketed alongside Asjad with 16 points.

Another significant rise was witnessed in the ranking of Asif who jumped 12 places to seize seventh place. Earlier, he was ranked 19th.Abdul Sattar, a former Sindh Cup winner who represented the country at the Asian Snooker Championship held in the city this year, is the only Sindh cueists among the top 10.

Similarly, Sharjeel Mehmood is the only player of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa among the top 10 which has been monopolised by Punjab cueists due to their sheer hard work.

Rankings:

1-Imran Shahzad (Punjab), 2-Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), 3-Hamza Akbar (Punjab), 4-Shahid Aftab (Punjab), 5-Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), 6-Abdul Sattar (Sindh), 7-Mohammad Asif (Punjab), 8-Abu Saim (Punjab), 9-Farhan Noor (Punjab), 10-Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).