Pro Snooker World Cup: Not knowing the rules caused our defeat, says Hamza Akbar

KARACHI: Pakistan players Hamza Akbar and Mohammad Sajjad exited the Professional Snooker World Cup in the preliminary group stages and the former player said it was the lack of knowledge of rules that cost them.

The players were unaware of the fact that every frame win counted as a single point on the table and it was important to not only win the match but bag as many points as possible.

Pakistan finished third with 13 points in their Group C behind leaders Wales – who had 20 points – and second-placed Australia, who had 14 points at the end of five matches.

Since only the top two sides at the end of group stages were to progress into next round, Pakistani cueists were sent packing home to concentrate on other challenges ahead.

Read: Snooker chief satisfied with Sajjad, Hamza

Normally, the home association briefs the players regarding the rules and regulations of events while there is a briefing as well before the beginning of any competition.

“We didn’t know the rules of Professional Snooker World Cup for our first three matches and that led to our exit,” Hamza told The Express Tribune.

“It would have been a different story if I and Sajjad knew about the rules that we’ll get a point on every frame win. All we were looking to do was to win our matches and not think about losing a frame or two.”

When inquired about how the team went without knowledge in such a big tournament, the player revealed that they reached Wuxi (China) late in the evening and they had missed the briefing and opening ceremony of the competition.

The duo went to their hotel and had a short night sleep as they had a match against Wales early next morning.

“We didn’t get time to settle down in China because we reached late and then Pakistan’s opening game against Wales was next morning," explained Hamza.

"We lost 5-0 against Wales but bounced with a 3-2 win against Australia. The third match was in our grip but Poland surprised us with a comeback to beat us 3-2. It was at that moment, we came to know about getting a point each for a frame-win.

“After that we won two matches 4-1 against Qatar and Northern Ireland but till then the damage had already been done.

"However, I’m still happy with our performance because we were against top players of the world who play in professional circuits. We would have wished to carry out playing till the finals such was the experience but our journey ended up short,” he added.

Hamza revealed that the next assignment for him is to apply for the UK visa so that he can appear in professional circuit soon.