Snooker: Cueists not serious about their preparations, says President PBSA

Players practising on their own ahead of Asian Championship.

KARACHI:

Pakistan cueists have been reduced to practise and fine-tune their skills on their own ahead of the Asian Championship, which will start from April 20 in Doha.

The camp for the event is likely to start after the first week of April, giving the cueists – Mohammad Asif and Sultan Mohammad – little time to prepare for the tournament.

However, the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh said the players were not serious about their preparations.

“There’s nothing we can do when the cueists are not showing interest,” Sheikh told The Express Tribune. “We’re ready to facilitate their preparations by giving them the charges of tables at the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) in Islamabad whether they are Rs500 or Rs1,000 per day.

“They can go there and practise on top-class tables but they don’t go.”

Despite getting little funds from the PSB, the PBSA has given contracts to the country’s top eight players with the number-one ranked cueist getting Rs8,000 per month, while second-placed            getting Rs7,000. Rs 6,000 are given to the number three player.

Meanwhile, the players have expressed their own problems, saying that paying charges is like solving just a portion of the  problem. “We’ll have to pay our daily rent and food charges, which means at least Rs20,000 if we spend 25 days there,” said Asif from Faisalabad.

“Thankfully my friend has a snooker club who has allowed me to practise free of cost. I have been practising over six hours every day and will increase the duration to get my game to the top level.”

However, the cueist added that the amount given by the PBSA to the country’s top player was not enough. “They say we aren’t serious but a player needs to fulfil his family’s needs. I think the department should consider providing us jobs so that players are not forced to leave the game they love.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.