KARACHI: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 47th National Snooker Championship cues off at the bank’s sports complex here on Wednesday with 32 cueists from across the country vying for honours.

Contrary to the past practice, the domestic circuit is being held at the fag end of the year instead of beginning of the calendar.

The prize money of the winner and runner-up has been doubled and now they will receive Rs200,000 and Rs100,000, respectively while the highest break performer will receive Rs25,000 out of total purse of Rs525,000.

The break-up of players includes six each from Sindh and Punjab, five each from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, two from Islamabad, seven top rank cueists and a wild card, Mohammad Bilal.

The details of the event were announced at a press conference held at the Karachi Club Annexe and addressed by Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) officials and bank’s senior personnel.

Defending champion veteran Mohammad Sajjad heads the seedings and is followed by Ahsan Ramzan, Babar Masih and Haris Tahir.

The event concludes on Jan 3.

Groups:

‘A’: Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab), Shah Namat (Islamabad), Jhanzaib Jahangir (Balochistan), Mohammad Bilal (Punjab).

‘B’: Ahsan Ramzan (Punjab), Sirbuland Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ali Hamza (Sindh), Rana Irfan (Punjab).

‘C’: Babar Masih (Punjab), Mohammad Naseem Akhtar (Punjab), Akash Rafiq (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), M. Jawed Ansari (Sindh).

‘D’: Haris Tahir (Punjab), Abdul Sattar (Sindh), Waseem Abbas (Punjab), Zaib Khan (Balochistan).

‘E’: Shahid Aftab (Punjab), Abdul Javed (Islamabad), Farukh Usman (Sindh), Fawad Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

‘F’: Zulfiqar A. Qadir (Sindh), Adil A. Jabbar (Balochistan), Mohammad Ijaz (Punjab), M. Iftikhar (Sindh).

‘G’: Mohammad Faizan (Sindh), Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Rizwan A. Aziz (Balochistan), Mubashir Raza (Punjab).

‘H’: Awaisullah Munir (Punjab), Sultan Mohammad (Sindh), Saif Ali Khan (Balochistan), Amir Shehzad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2022