KARACHI, Dec 13: A drastic slump has been witnessed in the graph of Sindh cueists which once used to enjoy complete dominance in the national rankings as Punjab has emerged a force to be reckoned with, a study reveals.

Only one player from Sindh, Abdul Sattar, figures among the top 10 in the latest national rankings released by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) after the fourth and last ranking event of the domestic calendar recently.

Bearded Sattar, who is unemployed, had a consistent run throughout the year. He was ranked fourth after the 38th national’s, relegated to sixth after NBP Cup, leaped to third position after the third ranking and culminated at fifth place in the latest rankings. In addition, he represented the country in the seven-nation international tournament last year and Asian championship this year, both at home.

Like Sattar, Sharjeel Mehmood is the only cueist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who has attained a place among top 10. The rest of eight players belong to Punjab.

“Neither we have any academy nor do our cueists have an access to clubs for regular practice,” Sikandar Badruddin, secretary of the Sindh Billiards and Snooker Association (SBSA), told Dawn while giving reasons for drastic decline.

The incumbent SBSA secretary, who owns a commercial snooker parlour, the first in city since quarter-of-a-century ago, said mostly the cueists come from poor background and can’t afford to pay for practice. At Aly’s, we charge Rs3 per minute, he said.

Comparing Sindh, particularly Karachi, with Punjab, he said a good number of commercial parlours have come up in the upcountry namely Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan to name the few, following a boom and selected of them allow certain players to play free of cost.

In Rawalpindi, some eight to 10 clubs are in vicinity and equipped with around 100 tables. Some players like Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Imran Shehzad, Farhan Noor, Khurram Agha, Sohail Shehzad, Umair Alam etc own their known snooker parlours.

In the absence of sponsorship, the total prize money of the Sindh Cup is Rs90,000, showing small difference with a national ranking competition.

The SBSA should plan to take the Sindh Cup out from commercial parlour to some big club or hotel and enhanced its status.

He commended the untiring efforts of Naveed Kapadia, for supervising the Sindh Cup as well as junior Sindh Cup for the last few years.

Naveed, a managing committee (MC) member and joint secretary of SBSA, is also the life member of the country’s games controlling body besides looking after the media, liaison with players etc. He has also made his mark as a referee and about to get international license soon, said Sikandar.

The technical side of the game needs immediate reinforcement both at the national and provincial levels and international exposure which can only come by giving confidence and proper remuneration to young generation who are involved in the game and delivering the goods.