Seven-nation Snooker Championship begins tomorrow in Karachi

KARACHI: The Jubilee Insurance Seven-nation International Snooker Championship will explode into action from Sunday noon at a local hotel. The six-day tournament will continue up to March 9.

Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Shaikh said that the championship will carry 3,100 dollars. The winner of the event will get a purse of US$2,000 while the runner-up will receive US$1,000 and the highest break will carry a cash award of US$100.

The matches of the event will be played on four tables and it will be played in two sessions daily.

Besides Pakistan, teams from India, Iran, Egypt, Untied Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Thailand will take part in the tournament.

The Indian team consists of Yasin Merchant and Faisal Khan arrived today in Karachi while Thailand team is reaching here in the wee hours of Saturday. The teams from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, United Arab Emirates will be reaching here early Sunday morning.

The main attraction of the competition will be of reigning IBSF World Champion Hussein Vafaei Ayouri who defeated Wales star Lee Walker in the final of the IBSF World Snooker Championship held in Bangalore, India last December.

The seven-nation snooker championship will be the third international sporting activity being staged in Pakistan after international boxing and Chinese hockey teams visited the country.