KARACHI: The 41st edition of the National Snooker Championship explodes into action at the Movenpick Hotel on Feb 15.

“A record number of 51 cueists will be seen in action,” Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) president Alamgir Shaikh told a press conference at the Karachi Gymkhana on Monday.

The prize money of Rs272,000 will be on offer at the championship. The winner will get Rs100,000 while the runner-up will pocket Rs50,000.

Players will be divided into eight groups. After the best of seven frames round robin league activity, top two players from each group will progress to the last-16 stage.

The winner and runner-up will represent Pakistan at the 32nd Asian Snooker Championship, scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar, from April 15-23.

Besides the top players, the winner and runner-up of National Under-18 and three top cueists of National Under-21 Championship will be eligible to appear in the championship.

Reigning Asian champion Hamza Akbar will be defending his title in the 13-day competition.

Former world amateur champion Mohammad Asif has been seeded top for the event while Mohammad Sajjad, who finished runner-up in the last world championship, will be seeded number two.

Other seeded players included Mohammad Bilal (3), Shahram Changezi (40), Mohammad Majid Ali (5), Babar Masihn (6), Shahid Aftab (7) and Sharjeel Mahmood (8).

Alamgir told reporters, “We are also working on a plan to resume the Indo-Pak Peace Cup after lapse of six years.

“Previously the series was named as Peace Cup but we are now planning to rename it as Friendship Cup.”

He said president of the Billiards and Snooker Association of India Captain Mohan, who is also the chief of world snooker body, has agreed in principal to revive the series.

“We have telephone discussions last week and more matters would be taken into consideration before finalising and shaping the series,” he said.

Format, number of players and other details would be worked out mutually before the series. The series could be played in May this year.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016