Champions Trophy win inspires snooker team

Cueist Sajjad vows to make country proud like cricketers

KARACHI: National champion Muhammad Sajjad believes the snooker team can take a leaf from the cricket team's book by winning the ACBS Asian Snooker Team Championship and 6 Reds Championship, set to kick off from June 27 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Sajjad, along with Muhammad Bilal, Asjd Iqbal and Babar Masih, is in Islamabad where the quartet is preparing for the upcoming assignments as part of a 10-day national camp.

According to Sajjad, the players are very serious about the championship and have been training for more than nine hours each day even during the month of Ramazan.

"It's going to be a tough championship, but I feel we are all very motivated," Sajjad told The Express Tribune. "The mood in the national camp is very upbeat also because of the cricket team's success in the Champions Trophy. It's good to see how people take notice of sports if we win something big. As cueists, we want to experience the same and at least reach the finals at both Asian team and 6 Red championships."

Emulating the cricketers' feat will be no easy job, given that national cueists could have to lock horns with the formidable China and Thailand. To make it happen, however, Sajjad says they're trying their best and leaving no stones unturned in training.

"Training isn't easy because we need to take care of everything and make sure we aren't ignoring any aspect," he said. "There will be both team and individual events in 6 reds so we alternate during our training. We train each day from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening, and then a little extra later on. Training in Ramazan is a special experience as we've become more disciplined than usual."

The event was originally scheduled to take place in May but had to be postponed due to landsliding in Kyrgyzstan.

"It was a shock for all of us when it was postponed as we really wanted to play at the time," recalled Sajjad. "But we're glad now that it's taking place, even if it's a little later than originally planned."