Ahsan stands ‘good chance’ of winning medal

Teenage cueist is only player representing Pakistan at World Games in Birmingham; faces Elsayed in first match

KARACHI:

Teenager Ahsan Ramzan is the only player representing Pakistan at World Games 2022 taking place in Brimingham, Alabama.

The 16-year-old from Lahore booked his place at the Games after being crowned the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Champion in March where he stunned his competitors with his prowess at the game.

One of the criteria for competing at the World Games is that a player needs to be among the best and at the top of his discipline.

Ahsan will play Ahmed Aly Elsayed in his first match of the last-16 in the snooker championship on July 13.

Ahsan is playing in the pre-quarter-finals and it will be a knockout match with a best-of-five frames. He left for the US on July 11 and had been training in Karachi.

According to the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association official and international referee Naveed Kapadia, Ahsan has been in good form and there are good chances of him taking the podium.

“He is the only player from Pakistan in the World Games 2022, he is also the youngest among the competitors in the championship,” Kapadia told The Express Tribune.

“His chances are great, and we are hopeful that he will get the medal, because when he had won the IBSF World Championship he did prove his mettle and there is a good chance of him winning the medal.”

Kapadia further added that Ahsan trained for 10 days before the event while he is accompanied by the former player and PBSA vice-president Abdul Wahid.

Pakistan do not have a coach for the players who represent the country at international level. Ahsan has been trained by the senior players and at times by Kapadia too as the PBSA cannot afford to hire a professional coach for the players.

“We don’t have a coach for the players and it has been a very long time.” said Kapadia.

The official was also helpful when PBSA hired Iran’s Sohail Vahedi to train the upcoming players almost half a decade ago. “I was the one who was giving instructions to the players that Sohail would direct me to, so that was an experience. Currently we don’t have the resources and we even have trouble travelling so we are doing the best we can,” he explained.

This is the second time a Pakistani cueist is competing at the World Games, previously Muhammad Bilal also played for the country in Poland 2017.