KARACHI, Jan 1: The 27th edition of National snooker championship will be held at KPT Sports Complex Hall from Jan 27 to Feb 3 with top 48 cueists battling for the crown in the main rounds.

A record purse of Rs 210,000 will be at offer in the eight- day competition, Secretary, Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) Aspi Mavalwala told APP Tuesday. He said an increase of Rs 33,000 has been made in the prize money.

He said winner will be pocketing Rs 60,000, runner-up will get Rs 30,000, losing semi finalist Rs 15,000 each, losing quarter finalists Rs 10,000 each, losing pre-quarter finalist Rs 5000 each. The player making the highest break of over 100 will get additional Rs 10,000.

He said Pakistan number one Khurram Agha has been top seeded while Naveen Perwani is seed two.

Third seed Farhan Mirza, fourth seed and Defending Champion Muhammad Yousuf, fifth seed Imran Shahzad, 6th seed Saleh Muhammad, 7th seed Minhas Malik, 8th seed Atiq Latif Bakhsh, Shakeel Bhatti, Saqib Butt, Amit Parwani, Arifullah, Naseer Khan, Younus Amir Bakhsh, Muhammad Shafiq and Faiq Malik are also directly placed in the main rounds of the championship.

Mavalwala said the winner and runner-up will earn the right to represent Pakistan in the Asian Snooker Championship being held in China in late May.

He said 16 players each from Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan and 16 players in the list from 17 to 32 in the national ranking chart will be vying for 32 qualifying berths to make the main rounds.

The Sindh Cup will be held at Indus Club Bahadurabad from Jan 7 under the auspices of Sindh Billiards and Snooker Association.

PBSA Secretary said the qualifying rounds of nationals will be also be held at Indus Club from Jan 23 to 26. —APP