KARACHI: Half-a-dozen cueists having national title under their belts are among the 43 players who will fight for honours when the Jubilee Insurance 39th National Snooker Championship explodes into action at the Karachi Gymkhana billiards hall on Saturday.

The six includes reigning national champion Hamza Akbar, and former champions’ veteran Mohammad Yousuf, Mohammad Asif, Shahid Aftab, Mohammad Sajjad and Khurram Agha.

The emergence of promising Hamza Akbar as national champion in the preceding event in presence of a galaxy of stars is a true indicator of resurgence of competent youth on the horizon. Hamza had defeated Pakistan No 1 Imran Shehzad 8-7 in the epic final.

The details of the country’s premier snooker championship were announced by Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) President Alamgir Shaikh at a press conference in Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

Managing director of Jubilee Insurance Mr. Tahir Ahmed, sponsors’ representatives, PBSF senior vice-president Abdul Wahid Qadir, PBSF secretary Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, Karachi Gymkhana president Ali Raheem, International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) former world snooker champion Mohammad Asif and veteran cricketer Saleem Yousuf were prominent among others who were present on the occasion.

Eulogising the role of sponsors, Alamgir said PBSF’s association with them has entered into seventh year with the hosting of national championship. He said top two cueists of the event will earn ticket for the 30th Asian Snooker Championship which is being held at Fujairah, UAE, from April 26 to May 3.

He sounded confident that the issue of PBSF grants and cash rewards to cueists who have brought laurels to the nations from abroad would be resolved by the PSB soon. “You will get good news soon,” Alamgir told Asif who sat besides him on the main table.

In his speech, Tahir commended the role of PBSF for taking the game to a new high with meagre resources.

The players have been drawn into eight groups and at the end of league, top two from each group will advance into the knockout pre quarter-finals. The best of 15 frames final will be played on March 10.

Meanwhile, according to prize money break-up, the winner will get Rs 80,000 while the runner-up receives Rs50,000 out of a total amount of Rs 252,000. A sum of Rs 10,000 has been set aside for highest break performer.

Groups:

A: Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Yasir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Allah Noor (Balochistan), Mohsin Amin (Punjab).

B: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Amir Tariq (Punjab), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Mohammad Nazeer (Punjab), Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

C: Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab), Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Aneel Emanuel (Sindh), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

D: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Kamran-ur-Rehman (Balochistan), Mujtahid Ali Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Abdul Raheem (junior four).

E: Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Farhan Noor (Punjab), Shehram Changezi (Islamabad), Najeebullah (Balochistan), Mohammad Faheem (junior three).

F: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Khurram Agha (Sindh), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), M. Haris Nadeem (junior two), Salman Ahmed Shaikh (Sindh).

G: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Khizar Aziz (Sindh), Mohammad Afzal (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (junior one), Mohammad Faiq Malik (Punjab).

H: Hamza Akbar (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab), Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Abdul Raziq (Balochistan), Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh).

Saturday’s fixtures:

At 10.00am: Imran Shehzad (Punjab) v Mohsin Ameen (Punjab), Mohammad Asif (Punjab) v Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shahid Aftab (Punjab) v Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) v Abdul Raheem (junior four).

At 12.00noon: Abdul Sattar (Sindh) v Mohammad Faheem (junior three), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) v M. Haris Nadeem (junior two), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) v Mohammad Majid Ali (junior one), Hamza Akbar (Punjab) v Nauman Awan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 2.00pm: Sultan Mohammad (Sindh) v Allah Noor (Balochistan), Amir Tariq (Punjab) v Mohammad Nazeer (Punjab), Mohammad Yousuf (Punjab) v Aneel Emanuel (Sindh), Abu Saim (Punjab) v Mujtahid Ali Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

At 4.00pm: Farhan Noor (Punjab) v Najeebullah (Balochistan), Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) v Salman Ahmed Sheikh (Sindh), Khizar Aziz (Sindh) v Mohammad Faiq Malik (Punjab), Mohammad Imran (Punjab) v Sohail Shehzad (Sindh).