Cueists hail cash reward system

Sajjad, Asif, others grateful for PBSA's new policy

KARACHI: Pakistani cueists have lauded the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association's (PBSA) decision to award cash prizes to international medallists, saying the reward system will motivate the players to do even better on their travels abroad.

In line with the new system, Muhammad Sajjad, who became the Asian 6 Red Champion earlier this year, received Rs150,000 for his gold medal, while Muhammad Bilal, Asjad Iqbal, Babar Masih, Muhammad Asif and Naseem Akhtar were also rewarded for their triumphs.

"It's a great thing, and we really needed some kind of reward system," Sajjad told The Express Tribune. "Basically no one really cares even when we win medals, but now we are finally seeing a positive sign."

He continued: "We're told the PBSA will be rewarding players on a regular basis now. It is not just a deserved reward for the players who've already bagged medals but it will also motivate others in our circuit to push us and compete harder."

Asif echoed his teammate's sentiments, saying: "This matters a great deal. We all need money."

Naseem, meanwhile, urged the government and the Pakistan Sports Board to take a leaf out of PBSA's books and look into the possibility of finding jobs for the cueists.

"We get a lot of praises when we get home but cash awards help too," said the 17-year-old who will be going to the World Cup next month. "Most of the snooker players don't even have jobs. Cueists could use jobs too."