KARACHI, April 1: After remaining number two behind Khurram Agha for nearly two years, Pakistan’s top cueist Saleh Mohammad became number one after winning the national snooker championship in Karachi.

According to the latest ranking released by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) on Friday Saleh reached the top with 16 points.

A consistent performance by Naveen Perwani in 2004 and in the nationals helped him settle at second spot from his previous fourth ranking.

Former world and Asian champion Mohammad Yousuf retained his third spot while Khurram slipped to fourth place after some disappointing performances in the last two national events.

Saqib Buttt climbed to 7th from his previous 19th spot, Inamur Rehman advanced to 8th from 34th and Shehram Changezi jumped to 10th from 17th. Qamar Khan made the biggest leap jumping 24 places from 46th to 22nd.

Vishan Gir slid to 19th from his 7th, Rambel Gul went down from 9th to 18th and Amit Perwani descended to 17th from 11th.

Ranking of the top 24 cueists (tabulated under, place, player, province, points, previous ranking).

1. Saleh Muhammad (NWFP) 16 2

2. Naveen Perwani (Sindh) 15 4

3. Muhammad Yousuf (Sindh) 14 3

4. Khurram Agha (Sindh) 14 1

5. Imran Shahzad (Punjab) 12 6

6. Atiq Latif Bakhsh (Sindh) 12 5

7. Saqib Butt (Punjab) 10 19

8. Inam-ur-Rehman (NWFP) 10 34

9. Shehram Changezi (Punjab) 10 17

10. Abu Saim (Punjab) 10 8

11. Minhas Malik (Sindh) 9 14

12. Muhammad Asif (Punjab) 9 16

13. M.Imtiaz Tipu (Punjab) 9 23

14. Salman Shaikh (Sindh) 9 36

15. Kamran Shah (Blch) 9 21

16. Farhan Noor (Punjab) 9 26

17. Amit Perwani (Sindh) 8 11

18. Rambel Gul (NWFP) 8 9

19. Vishan Gir (Sindh) 8 7

20. Shakeel Bhatti (Sindh) 8 12

21. Kashif Khan (Sindh) 7 31

22. Qamar Khan (NWFP) 7 46

23. Shah Khan (NWFP) 7 13

24. Nadeem Rasheed (Punjab) 7 40

—APP