KARACHI, May 2: Former runner-up of the World championship Saleh Muhammad has been top seeded for the 9th Style national ranking snooker championship which begins at Karachi Gymkhana Billiards Hall from May 7, Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) announced on Monday. NWFP’s star cueist Saleh, who lost to India’s Pankaj Advani in 2003 World championship, is drawn in group ‘A’ in the Rs129,000 event.
Naveen is seeded two, former world and Asian champion Muhammad Yousuf is seeded number three while Imran Shahzad is seeded fourth. Other seeded players are: Atiq Latif Bakhsh (5), Saqib Butt (6), Inamur Rehman (7) and Shehram Changezi (8).
Khurram Agha will miss the competition. Country’s top 40 cueists drawn in eight pools will be battling for the title, with the winner receiving Rs40,000, runner-up Rs20,000 and the losing semifinalists Rs10,000 each.
Rambel Gul who beat KPT’s Atiq Latif Bakhsh will defend his title.
POOLS:
A: Saleh Muhammad (NWFP), Amit Perwani (Sindh), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Kamran Razzak (Sindh), Zahid Junejo (Sindh).
B: Naveen Perwani (Sindh), Farhan Noor (Punjab), Nadeem Rasheed (Punjab), Raees Khan (Punjab), Mesam Zaidi (Sindh).
C: Muhammad Yousuf (KPT), Kamran Shah (Balochistan), Shah Khan (NWFP) Shadab Baig (Sindh), Saqib Zia (Sindh).
D: Imran Shahzad (Punjab), Salman Shaikh (Sindh), Qamar Khan (NWFP), Arshad Siddiq (NWFP), M Shahzad (Punjab).
E: Atiq Latif Bakhsh (KPT), Imtiaz Tipu (Punjab), Kashif Khan (Sindh), Muhammad Shafiq (NWFP), Shakir Rafiq (Sindh).
F: Saqib Butt (Punjab), Muhammad Asif (Punjab), Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh), Waqas Malik (Sindh), Naseem Paracha (Sindh).
G: Inamur Rehman (NWFP), Minhas Malik (Sindh), Vishan Gir (Sindh), Farrukh Usman (Sindh), Abid Salim (Punjab).
H: Shehram Changezi (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Rambel Gul (NWFP), Muhammad Nazir (Punjab), Shahid Shafiq (Punjab).—APP
