KARACHI: Alarm bells have started to ring for the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) which is evident from the fact that junior cueists are paying for their trip to Russian city of Tyumen where the IBSF World U-16 snooker championship starts from Monday.

The PBSF president Munawwar Hussain Shaikh, when asked about it, confirmed that cueists will bear their own return air fare, accommodation and living expenses which comes to approximately Rs 500,000 and will be equally shared.

“The tickets have costs them Rs 300,000 (at Rs150,000 per head) while the remaining amount will be spent on their stay and meals,” Munawwar told Dawn.

IBSF World U-16 snooker begins on Monday

He, however, said the cash-strapped PBSF is paying for the manager’s expenses which comes to around Rs 300,000.

Amid this scenario Mohammad Umar Khan, the losing semi-finalist of the inaugural national U-16 snooker championship held earlier this year, was selected at the expense of runner-up Kamran Alber who couldn’t afford to bear the expenses of the trip to Russia. The National U-16 champion Hamza Ilyas is the the other player picked for the event. Both Hamza and Umar belong to Lahore.

This is the first time Pakistani cueists will feature in the IBSF U-16 event. The boys and girls event will be played concurrently from Aug 19-24. The Pakistan team is due to fly to the Russian city early Sunday morning.

Team: Hamza Ilyas, Mohammad Umar Khan (players) Shabbir Hussain (manager).

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2019