KARACHI: In the absence of Pakistan No.1 Hamza Akbar, who has recently left for England to play in the professional circuit, losing finalist of this year’s national championship Shahram Changezi has been seeded on top in the draws of the seventh National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship which is being played at the bank’s sports complex from Oct 7 to 13.

The details of the event were announced at a press briefing held at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.

Outlining salient features of the event, the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president Alamgir Shaikh said that 31 top cueists of the national ranking will feature in the contest which is second event of the calendar.

It is pertinent to mention that no domestic activity took place after the 40th national championship that was held in the city in February.

The event carry total prize money of Rs1,74,000 with winner getting Rs60,000 and runner-up Rs35,000.

Reigning world No 2 Mohammad Sajjad will defend his crown.

After the event, top two players of the national ranking will be eligible to travel to Egypt to take part in the IBSF world snooker championship being held at Hurghada from Nov 10 to 21.

Ovais Asad Khan, who has succeeded former Test cricketer Iqbal Qasim as head of the CSR division, assured to continue the legacy left by his predecessor.

Groups:

A: Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Bahadur Khan (Balochistan).

B: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Mohammad ishtiaq (Sindh), Mohammad Faizan (Sindh), Mohammad Faheem (Punjab).

C: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Amior Tariq (Punjab), Asjad Iqbal (Punjab),Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

D: Babar Masih (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Nauan Iqbal (Islamabad), Abu Saim (Punjab).

E: Mohammad Imran (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Ian Mark John (Sindh).

F: Aakash Rafique (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rambel Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Toufiq Johri (Sindh).

G: Khurram Agha (Sindh), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Sohail Shehzad (Sindh), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab).

H: Mohammad Asif Toba (Punjab), Zulfiqar A Qadir (Sindh), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mohammad Uzair Aziz (Sindh).

Published in Dawn October 2nd, 2015

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