KARACHI: The third ranking snooker championship which gets into action at Karachi Gymkhana on Friday has turned out to be a duel between Punjab and Sindh following late withdrawal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s lone qualifier Rambel Gul due to indisposition.

“The 23rd ranked Rambel, who has specially arrived from Dubai to compete in the event, has expressed inability and the number of participants has been reduced from 26 to 25,” an official told Dawn.

According to the break-up, Punjab dominates the rankings by occupying 20 places followed by Sindh who have five slots.

Senior cueists Mohammad Bilal and Mohammad Asif have returned with flying colours in the 44th nationals and 11th NBP Cup respectively held earlier this year. The former whipped Asjad Iqbal 8-4 while the latter survived a scare while getting the better of Mubashir Raza 8-7 in a marathon final.

Despite of the trend of the last two domestic competitions, there’s likelihood that at least half-a-dozen youngsters have the ability to pull off upsets. They include Mubashir Raza, Haris Tahir, Mohammad Majid Ali, Naseem Akhtar, Ali Haider and Mohammad Ahsan Javaid.

A sum of Rs195,000 is at stake with the winner getting Rs100,000 and runner-up Rs40,000.

Meanwhile, the details of the event were announced at a press conference held at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion managing director of Jubilee Insurance Tahir Ahmed called upon the government to pay heed to sports and sports persons.

He recalled his 12-year association with the games controlling body that yielded fruitful results including world and regional titles.

The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) president Munawwar Hussain Shaikh said that five cueists will represent the country in the IBSF world championships – men’s, women’s, master’s – being held in the Turkish city of Antalya from Oct 29 to Nov 9.

The players include Mohammad Asif, Zulfiqar Qadir, Babar Masih, Mubashir Raza (men), Abu Saim (master).

The PBSF will pay only for Asif and Zulfiqar while the other three have secured sponsorship. It may be mentioned that Mubashir is presently ranked fifth while Babar is at 15th position.

The PBSF official said third seed Asjad and fourth seed Bilal declined when asked to arrange sponsorship if they want to to compete.

Former PBSF president Alamgir Shaikh also spoke on the occasion.

Groups:

A: Mohammad Asif (Punjab), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Ali Haider (Punjab), Imran Shahzad (Punjab), Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab).

B: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sinh), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab), Babar Masih (Punjab), Abu Saim (Punjab), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh).

C: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Agha Bilawal (Sindh).

D: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh), Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Rashid Aziz (Punjab), Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mohammad Hamza Ilyas (Punjab).

Friday’s fixtures:

At 10am: Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Mohammad Hamza Ilyas (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab) vs Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Sohail Shahzad (Sindh) vs Rashid Aziz (Punjab), Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh) vs Sultan Mohammad (Sindh).

At 12noon: Asjad Iqbal (Punjab) vs Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab) vs Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) vs Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab) vs Abu Saim (Punjab).

At 2pm: Mohammad Asif (Punjab) vs Shaikh Mohammad Mudassir (Punjab), Mohammad Ahsan Javaid (Punjab) vs Imran Shahzad (Punjab), Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab) vs Ali Haider (Punjab), Haris Tahir (Punjab) vs Babar Masih (Punjab).

At 4pm: Mohammad Majid Ali (Punjab) vs Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Mohammad Shahbaz (Punjab) vs Agha Bilawal (Sindh), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab) vs Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Mubashir Raza (Punjab) vs Mohammad Hamza Ilyas (Punjab).

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2019