KARACHI: The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) on Tuesday opened a new leaf in the annals of the game by doling out Rs 9,25,000 among half-a-dozen medal winning cueists of the year under a ‘policy’.

The presentation was made at a simple reception held to fete the players by acknowledging their performance and at the same time encouraging the second tier to follow in the footsteps of seniors.

“A policy has been framed by the board and executive committee members of the federation and will motivate the players to win more laurels to the nation in the days to come,” the PBSF president Munawwar Hussain Shaikh said while speaking at Karachi Gymkhana.

“The federation used to give cash incentives to players for winning glories at the world and Asian level in the past also, but from now onwards the cueists know that they will get cash award for the gold, silver and bronze as per policy,” he added.

“I am carrying forward the legacy set by the founding president and now chairman Ali Asghar Valika and my predecessor Alamgir Shaikh,” the PBSF chief said.

Under the policy, players winning gold, silver or bronze in the Asian events gets Rs1,50,000, 75,000 and 50,000 respectively.

Similarly, if a player wins gold in the IBSF world event gets Rs 200,000, silver medalist Rs 100,000 and bronze medalist Rs 50,000.

Amidst applause, he announced that the reigning junior world champion M. Naseem Shaikh had got wildcard entry in the up and coming IBSF world championship which is slated at Doha next month.

Pakistan, he said, will now be represented by four cueists. He thanked the board members and managing committee for their support in deriving the policy. He also had a word of praise for Arif Tahirbhai and Naveed Kapadia.

Speaking on the occasion, Alamgir Shaikh expressed optimism that the IPC and the PSB will also streamline their prize winning policy to medal winning cueists.

The ceremony was also attended by Jawed Karim, Abdul Qadir Memon, Zulfiqar Ramza, Irfan Motan, Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, Rashid Lehra Jambo, Amin Bawany, Nisar Bhagat and Imran Qasim.

The recepients of cash awards are:

Asian Team and 6-Reds Snooker Championship Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Mohammad Sajjad (gold/ 6-Reds) Rs 150,000, Bilal (bronze/6-Reds) Rs 50,000, Bilal and Babar Masih (silver/team event) Rs37,500 apiece, Sajjad and Asjad Iqbal (bronze/team event) Rs 25,000 apiece, World under-18, under-21 Snooker Championship Beijing, China. Naseem (gold/under-18) Rs200,000, IBSF World 6-Reds and Team Championship Sahi Hashish, Egypt. Asif and Babar (gold/team event) Rs 100,000 apiece, Sajjad and Asjad (silver/team event) Rs 50,000 apiece, Babar (bronze/6-Reds) Rs 50,000, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Turkmenistan: Sajjad (silver/6-Reds) Rs 50,000.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017