KARACHI, Dec 14: Despite losing the Del Monte Cup - the last national ranking snooker tournament of the year – country’s ace cueist Imran Shahzad has maintained his top slot in the latest national ranking (NR) released by the games controlling body on Wednesday.

Imran, the Guangzhou Asian Games bronze medalist in snooker team event, has accumulated 37 points to stay country’s No 1 cueist, a feat he enjoyed for most part of the year.

Mohammad Asif, who created quite a stir by capturing the Del Monte Cup, took a leap of five places to seize second place in the ranking. Ranked seventh in the previous rankings, Asif has a tally of 31 points.

Laying third is Sharjeel Mehmood, who has earned pride for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for being the only cueist among top 16. Previously, he was ranked 10th.

Reigning national champion Shahid Aftab has slipped to fourth, ahead of former Asian No 2 and two-time national champion Mohammad Sajjad.

Sixth place Abdul Sattar is the lone Sindh player among the top eight followed by M. Asif Toba and Asjad Iqbal.

Veteran’s Naveen Perwani and Mohammad Yousuf have managed to remain among the top 16. The former is ranked 13th while the latter is 14th.

Rankings: 1-Imran Shahzad (Punjab); 2-Mohammad Asif (Punjab); 3-Sharjeel Mehmood (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa); 4-Shahid Aftab (Punjab); 5-Mohammad Sajjad (Punjab); 6-Abdul Sattar (Sindh); 7-M. Asif Toba (Punjab); 8-Asjad Iqbal (Punjab); 9-Sohail Shahzad (Sindh); 10-Sultan Mohammad (Sindh); 11-Mohammed Javed (Punjab); 12-Mohammad Imran (Punjab); 13-Naveen Perwani (Sindh); 14-Mohammad Yousuf (Sindh); 15-Umair Alam (Sindh); 16-Bilawal Agha (Sindh).