KARACHI: The junior quartet, including the reigning world under-21 champion Mohammad Naseem Akhtar, will be under spotlight in the third Jubilee Insurance Ranking Snooker Championship which begins at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

The four cueists are among the 28 participants who will battle it out for the honours in the eight-day competition which concludes on Oct 20.

The other three juniors include national under-18 runner-up Shaikh M. Mudassir, national under-21 semi-finalist Umar Farooq and national under-18 and under-21 semi-finalist Mohammad Rafiq.

The details of the event were announced by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) President Munawwar Hussain Shaikh at a press conference at the Karachi Gymkhana on Wednesday.

Top player Asjad Iqbal has maintained a consistent run in the last two domestic events. First he finished runner-up to Mohammad Sajjad in the nationals and then lifted the NBP Cup to surge to the top of the national rankings.

Sajjad, meanwhile, has slipped to fifth ranking while the former world amateur champion Asif is at the ninth slot.

The event carries total prize money of Rs165,000 and the winner will get Rs70,000 and runner-up Rs40,000 besides other prizes.

“The cueists who will attain top two slots in the national ranking after the event, will be eligible to represent the country at the IBSF world snooker championship being held at Doha from Nov 17 to 27,” Munawwar said.

He added that the PBSF will nominate the third player for the trip besides naming another cueist for the Master’s event (over 40 category).

Responding to a question, former president Alamgir Shaikh, who was also present, defended selling the imported snooker tables, which are worth approximately Rs8 million.

“The tables were sold to meet expenses as government gives a meagre grant,” he pointed out.

Azfar Arshad, executive vice-president (operations) of Jubilee General Insurance and Syed Usman Qaiser, head of marketing Jubilee Life, also spoke on the occasion.

Groups:

Pool ‘A’: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Khurram Agha (Sindh), Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Shahram Changezi (Islamabad), Mohammad Asif Tooba (Punjab), Mohammad Tariq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Pool ‘B’: Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Mohammad Ishtiaq (Sindh), Haris Tahir (Punjab), M. Ahsan Javed (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Umar Farooq (Punjab).

Pool ‘C’: Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab), Nadir Miraan (Punjab), Imran Shehzad (Punjab), Shah Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shaikh M. Mudassir (Punjab).

Pool ‘D’: Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Sharjeel Mahmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), M. Naseem Akhtar (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2017