Hamza Akbar back in UK to continue his world tour

MANCHESTER: Following his struggle for UK sports visa, Hamza Akbar, former Asian Snooker champion, has finally arrived in Britain to continue his world tour.

The 23-year-old cueist returned to England on Monday and is already preparing for the Welsh Open in Cardiff next week.

Akbar, who is based in Oldham since he started his professional career, has been struggling with finances and this time he had to go back home for UK visa. He finally got his visa but missed China Open, Scottish Open and German Masters, slumping to 103 in the World rankings.

His Manager Mohammed Nisar said: "Hamza has been able to practice at agriculture university in Faisalabad - which houses a snooker academy - but the tables are different to what he has been used to on the tour, we hope he will adjust to it soon as he is very talented."

Nisar added: "He needs a couple of wins now to boost his confidence and finances, he's got four busy months coming up so hopefully he will do well in all competitions. We would like to say thank you to the Counsel General of Pakistan in Manchester, Dr Zahoor Ahmed and OPF President, Barrister Amjad Malik, who have helped us a lot and also to Simon Brownell at world snooker as he worked tirelessly to sort out this situation".

Hamza faces 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham in the first round before moving on to other assignments.

The Welsh Open starts on Monday followed by the Coral Snooker Shoot-out in Watford at the end of February, Gibraltar Open in March and the World Championships qualifying round in April.