KARACHI: The seventh National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) ranking snooker championship – the second domestic event of the calendar – cues off at the bank’s sports complex here on Wednesday with 31 top ranked cueists vying for the honours.

Third seed Mohammad Sajjad, who finished runner-up in the IBSF world snooker championship in Bangalore last year, will defend his crown. He has been drawn in group ‘C’ alongside Amir Tariq, Asjad Iqbal and Shah Khan. Sajjad has won the title twice since its inception.

Asjad, who enjoys distinction of winning the title thrice, may pose a serious challenge to Sajjad.

Islamabad-based Shahram Changezi has been top seeded and placed in group ‘A’ followed by former world amateur champion Mohammad Asif who has been drawn in group ‘B’.

Top two players from each group will advance to the knockout pre quarter-finals on the completion of league matches.

The event carries total prize money of Rs1,74,000. The winner is set to receive Rs60,000 while the runner-up will get Rs35,000.

As many as 15 matches are on cards for the opening day. The first sessions begins at 10am. Curtain falls on the event on Oct 13.

Wednesday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Asif v Mohammad Faheem, Mohammad Sajjad v Shah Khan, Babar Masih v Abu Saim.

At 12noon: Mohammad Imran v Ian Mark John, Aakash Rafique v Mohammad Toufiq Jhori, Khurram Agha v Mohammad Ahsan Javaid, Mohammad Asif Toba v Mohammad Uzair Aziz.

At 2pm: Imran Shehzad v Bahadur Khan, Mohammad Ishtiaq v Mohammad Faizan, Amir Tariq v Asjad Iqbal, Abdul Sattar v Mohammad Nouman Iqbal.

At 4pm: Mohammad Majid Ali v Mohammad Bilal, Rambel Gul v Sharjeel Mehmood, Sultan Mohammad v Sohail Shehzad, Zulfiqar a Qadir v Shahid Aftab.

Published in Dawn, October 7th , 2015

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