Asian Snooker Championship: Three-member team set for U21 event

National U21 champion Mohammad Saqib is targeting the Asian U21 Snooker Championship title as the Pakistan squad prepares to leave for Colombo, Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

Saqib bagged the maiden national U21 title while Haris Tahir, a national U18 champion, finished as runner-up.

Apart from Saqib and Haris, Abdul Rahim will be the third contestant from Pakistan after his heroics in the IBSF World U18 Snooker Championship, where he ended up as a losing semi-finalist.

“My aim is to win the Asian U21 title and I believe I can do it,” Saqib, who hails from Gujranwala, told The Express Tribune. “I’ve recently won the national U21 title while the experience of playing in the national seniors’ championship has been a great help as I got to play against the best cueists in the country.”

Meanwhile, Rahim stated that he was looking to improve on last year’s World U18 Championship performance and said he would be able to adjust against the U21 players easily.

“I want to atleast reach the final in the upcoming championship — it’s the least I would settle for.”

Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) President Alamgir Sheikh will travel with the team as a delegate while PBSA secretary will take the spot as manager. Naved Kapadia will travel as a referee for the competition which will end on March 8.

(Source: Express Tribune)