KARACHI, Sept 19: The third national ranking snooker championship which cues-off at hotel Sheraton on Friday will be an open affair in the light of rise of promising cueists Hamza Akbar and Asjad Iqbal in the preceding two domestic events that has set a healthy trend.

Hamza defeated former Pakistan No 1 Imran Shehzad 8-7 to capture his maiden national title in March while Asjad shocked IBSF world amateur snooker champion Mohammad Asif by the identical score of 8-7 to retain NBP title last month. Interestingly, both the finals went to full distance.

Asif has overcome complacency in the last ranking event and has leaped 12 places to attain seventh spot in the national ranking. It is pertinent to mention that his ranking slipped to 19th after the dismal showing in the 38th national snooker championship.

The event is expected to provide needed practice to the Ireland bound cueists – Asif and Sajjad – who are supposed to fly to Carlow on Sept 28 subject to availability of funds.

Friday’s fixtures:

At 10.00am: Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Ayaz Khan (Islamabad), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Amir Rasheed (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Mohsin Amin (Punjab).

At 12.00noon: Abu Saim (Punjab) v Mohammad Javed (Punjab), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) by Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Amir Tariq (Punjab), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Umair Alam (Sindh).

At 2.00pm: Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) v Khurram Agha (Sindh), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) v Babar Masih (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Naveen Perwani (Sindh), Farhan Noor (Punjab) v Sultan Mohammad (Sindh).

At 4.00pm: Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Mohammad Javed (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Amir Tariq (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Umair Alam (Sindh).

At 6.00pm: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh) v Mohsin Amin (Punjab).