KARACHI: It is quite strange that despite the passage of seven months of the current year, Pakistan’s domestic snooker circuit has not commenced yet.

The snooker activities at the global level, that were halted due to Covid-19 pandemic, are in full bloom whereas home cueists have been waiting for competitive events since long.

It is disappointing that the domestic circuit for men was slashed to mere one competition from four long ago and no sincere effort has been made by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) to consolidate the base by staging more events.

Apart from the country’s premier national snooker championship, the PBSF used to organise three national ranking events for men that kept the players competitive. Unfortunately, except for a ranking contest patronised by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), other three were shelved for want of sponsors.

Thanks to the hard work of cueists who have kept snooker a medal-winning sport but unfortunately, the PBSF has not marketed it properly.

The NBP came to the rescue of PBSF by converting its ranking event into the national snooker championship last year and doled out Rs3 million in this regard.

It is pertinent to mention that a tobacco company incurred millions of rupees and played a vital role to promote the game when it was in its infancy stage while an insurance firm filled the gap following the global decision to ban tobacco companies from patronising sports.

The four provincial bodies and Islamabad remain inactive for most part of the year and mainly organise provincial cups which serve as qualifiers for the nationals. However, for the last few years, the PBSF has been organising national junior events in Islamabad.

The PBSF has not yet included Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in its fold, a stance which has denied players of these regions the opportunities to demonstrate their talent.

Prize monies and allowances of players also need to be enhanced considerably following inflation which will help in attracting more talent towards the sport.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2022