Cueing up for national colours

Snooker event starts tomorrow, finalists to represent Pakistan in Qatar

KARACHI: Forty cueists will take part in the 37th National Snooker Championship that starts tomorrow, with the finalists of the year’s first national event representing Pakistan in the 28th Asian Snooker Championship to be held in Qatar during April.

The national championship will feature Pakistan’s top cueists as well as two junior players who impressed in the under-21 tournament. The cueists will be divided into five groups with the top two from each pool qualifying for the last-16.

Pakistan number one Imran Shehzad was confident of making it to the knockouts from a group comprising Bilal Agha, Sindh’s Vishangir and Yasir Shehzad from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

“I have competitive cueists in my group but I can outplay them,” Shehzad told The Express Tribune. “The second round will be difficult. Senior players, including Mohammad Sajjad, Khurram Agha, and Asif Toba, will want to kickoff the year with the national title.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2012