Snooker chief to press for Rs0.7m grant

Money will allow cueists to take part in World Championships.

KARACHI: Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh will be meeting Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) officials in order to speed up the requested Rs700,000 grant needed to send two cueists to the world championships scheduled for this month.

The grant was requested from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and will help PBSA send Mohammad Asif and Asjad Iqbal to the IBSF World Championship in Bulgaria.

“I’ve sought time from the top IPC officials to raise the issue and hopefully we’ll get the grant quickly,” Sheikh told The Express Tribune. “The players will only be able to take part if we get the funds.”

Asif and Asjad took part in the recently concluded Dubai International Open to get decent practice ahead of the global event.

Asjad lost in the quarter-finals but Asif went onto play the final which he lost 5-2. The association had faced similar problems while sending juniors Muhammad Majid and Hunain Amir for the World Under-21 Snooker Championship held in July as they were denied financial support by the Pakistan Sports Board and the Punjab government.

The Sindh government then had to give funds of Rs246,500 to the PBSA for sending the players.

Meanwhile, another PBSA official said that the association will not be collecting money on their own as they did for the juniors event and the PSB should now fulfil its duty.

“There are responsibilities that lie with the PSB which they should fulfil,” said the official. “We will not be collecting the funds on our own otherwise the PSB will continue to overlook its duties.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2012.