Asif has vowed to use the sponsorship money to pursue his dream of playing in the Professional Circuit. PHOTO: PBSA
KARACHI: IBSF world champion Mohammad Asif’s dream of playing in the Professional Circuit is finally looking like it may become a reality as he found a sponsor in Omar Associates, who have given him a cash injection of Rs2million.
Asif was left running pillar to post alongside Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh to receive his cash awards, which were announced by the government but so far the promises have remained unfulfilled.
However, Nadeem Omar – owner of Omar Associates – is the first man from the corporate sector to have come up with such a substantial amount, and Sheikh said the sponsorship marked a ‘historic day’ for Pakistan snooker.
“This is a very historic day in Pakistan’s snooker history,” said Sheikh. “No one has ever done something like that for snooker and it is a great gesture from Omar. Hopefully more people from the corporate sector will follow suit because world champions are not made daily.”
It should be mentioned here that Omar Associates’ cricket team won all the major Ramazan Twenty20 tournaments this year except the PCB Ramazan T20 Cup, which only had first-class departments.
Asif vows to join professional circuit
Despite being given the offer of spending the money as he chooses, the world champion has asserted that he will use it to appear in the professional circuit.
The circuit will run for eight months and will require an amount of Rs2-2.5million, making him only the second cueist from Pakistan, behind Shaukat Ali, to play at the top level.
“I’ll soon play in the professional circuit which was my ultimate aim after becoming the world champion,” Asif, who won his semi-final against Shahid Aftab 6-3 at the 5th NBP Ranking Snooker Championship yesterday, told The Express Tribune.
“I wasn’t getting the support to do so as my cash awards are still to be released from the government. But now Omar Associates have decided to back me and I’ll try my best to perform well.”
Meanwhile, in the other semi-final of the day, defending champion Asjad Iqbal won 6-4 against Imran Shehzad.
Government’s poor attitude forced me to step in: Omar
Omar revealed that poor attitude from the government towards a world champion forced him to come forward and set an example for others to follow.
“I was reading a lot about Asif not getting his cash rewards from the government which left me frustrated, as two governments failed to honour the services of a world champion in the last nine months,” said Omar.
“If he had been a world champion from any other country, he would have received several sponsorships already, but here, he was treated as if it wasn’t his due right.”
Asif yet to receive IBSF trophy
Mohammad Asif is waiting expectantly to receive the original trophy of IBSF World Championship, and so has been keeping a replica of the title. He hopes he will get the original trophy soon before handing it over to the new world champion.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2013.
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Well done....We need more of these for lesser recognized sports in this country.
Excellent gesture! Well done Omar Associates for setting up the example!