KARACHI: Fifty-three cueists from 18 countries started their campaign in the Asian Snooker Championship which commenced in Doha on Sunday.

The countries include Afgha­nistan, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Mongolia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, hosts Qatar, Singa­pore, Syria, Thailand, Yemen and Jordan.

According to the draws made available here, the participants have been drawn into 12 groups with the top two from each to qualify for the knockout round.

The top eight group winners will directly cruise into the last-16 while the remaining four group winners and 12 group second placed finishers will play in the last-24 round.

Four Pakistani cueists — Mohammad Bilal, Asjad Iqbal, Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir and Babar Masih are also participating in the event.

The tournament concludes on June 21. It will be followed by the Asian 6-Reds at the same venue from June 22 to 25 and the Asian Team championship from June 26 to June 28.

Meanwhile, the matches of Pakistani cueists were in progress when this report was filed.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2019