Karachi : NBP 49th National Snooker Championship started from January 21 at the Snooker Arena of National Bank Sports Complex, National Snooker Champion Asjad Iqbal will defend his title. The event started by Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association Chairman Alamgir Sheikh with a press conference. National Bank Senior Vice President and Head of Sports Wing Sher Muhammad, PBSA President Javed Karim, Abdul Qadir Memon, Irfan Motin, Muhammad Farhan, PBSA Secretary Zulfiqar Ali Ramzi, Tournament Director Naveed Kapadia, and others were also present at the occasion. Sharing his view, Mr. Alamgir Sheikh said that like every year, this year too, National Bank has sponsored the National Championship. We are happy that last 16 years, the National Bank has been sponsoring our National Championship.
At this occasion, NBP Sports Wing Head Sher Muhammad said, “The partnership between National Bank and the Pakistan Snooker Association will continue to encourage our talent like past. We are also promoting other sports.” Later, he handed over the cheque for the sponsorship amount of the National Championship to PBSA officials.
The prize money for the championship has been set at Rs 525,000. The winner of the National Championship will be given Rs 200,000 and the runner-up will be given Rs 100,000. The semi-finalist will be given Rs 50,000, the quarter-finalist Rs 25,000 and the player who made a big break in the championship will be given Rs 25,000. 48 players from all over the country are participating in this National Championship, divided into eight groups. The top two players from each group will qualify for the pre-quarterfinals. Last year’s National Championship winner Asjad Iqbal will defend his title. Five junior champion players have been given direct entry to the championship. He said “we will claim Rs 30 million for three-time World Snooker Championship winner Muhammad Asif and Rs 10 million for Ahsan Ramzan from the government under the Cash Award Sports Policy. Hopefully, our request will get this prize money. Apart from this, we also have to claim all the international medals from 2019-20 so that we can organize the second and third-ranking tournaments with the money we get.
