Double-edged JK bridges gap between PBSA, KC

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

It took long time coming but finally there’s a thaw in relationship between the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) and the Karachi who worked together for decades before parting ways. 

Not surprisingly Jawed H Karim, the Honorary Secretary of the Karachi Club for the current year, who is also the President of the PBSA, has seemingly played the key role in breaking the ice which obviously augurs well for the future of Pakistan snooker. 

Recuperating after a successful surgery recently, Jawed Karim, also affectionately called as JK by his friends and colleagues, has set the ball rolling once more. Under his leadership, the Karachi Club has once again ventured into doing bigger things. 

The club has already acquired as many as four snooker tables of the famed Riley Aristrocrat brand for which a fitter will be flying in from England later this month. The Riley tables are being fitted and installed with all accessories at our historic Latif Amir Bakhsh Snooker Hall and they will be ready for use next month. 

The next edition of the prestigious Haji Abdul Karim Dhehdi Inter-Club Snooker Championship, offering record high prize money, as well as the Karachi Club League Championship will now be contested on the new tables in November-December this year. 

The Karachi Club, it may be recalled, had become the headquarters of Pakistan snooker when its charismatic President, Ali Asghar Valika, set off to revive cue sports in the country after taking over the leadership of the PBSA in 1988. The club gained prominence at the global level as it hosted flurry of national and international snooker events regularly for the next couple of decades. 

Then the tragic episode of allegations and politicking took place which caused rift between the leadership of the two bodies and the club, having become synonymous with snooker, suddenly shut its doors to the PBSA. 

Jawed Karim, elected unopposed as the PBSA President in late 2020 and also voted to the key position of Secretary of the Karachi Club for the year 2022, has stepped the move to restore the relationship in the larger interest of the sport. 

Pakistan snooker will benefit a great deal with this reunion as the PBSA will have the luxury of availing the club’s unmatched facilities for holding national and international events as was the case during the days of Asghar Valika. 

The PBSA did survive the interim period by holding their events at alternate venues because they didn’t have the option of going to the club which historically had been the home to Pakistan snooker. 

Let’s see if the PBSA and the Karachi Club will revive the annual Latif Masters Championship which used to be the most prestigious national ranking competition of the year. With so little time left they may not be able to do it during the current year. Now the question is whether the new set-up at the club in the coming year will be eager to continue supporting snooker.

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Jawed Karim to represent Pakistan in Asian, world bodies AGM

Pakistan News & Features Services

The newly elected President of the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), Jawed Karim, will be representing the country for the first time at the continental as well as the global body of cue sports next month. 

Having served the PBSA in various capacities, including Senior Vice President, he has now been elected unopposed as for the term of next four years. 

The PBSA media spokesman has announced that Jawed Karim will be attending the annual general meetings (AGM) of the Asian Confederation of Biliards Sports (ACBS) as well as the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar, on September 16 and 17 respectively. 

The AGMs of the ACBS and the IBSF will be taking place on the sidelines of the twin events, the ACBS 36th Asian Men Snooker Championship 2021 and the IBSF Qatar 6-Red Snooker World Cup 2021 being hosted by the Qatar Billiards & Snooker Association (QBSA). 

Meanwhile the PBSA has selected Muhammad Asif, a former world champion, and Babar Masih to represent Pakistan in both the events while Haris Tahir has been chosen as stand-by cueist.

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Jawed Karim leads Pakistan snooker contingent to Thailand

By Syed Khalid Mahmood
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Jawed Karim, Vice President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA), will lead the Pakistan contingent in the Sagnsom 6-Red World Snooker Championship 2016 being staged in Bangkok, Thailand, from September 5 to 10.

Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President, PBSA, informed that the three-member Pakistan contingent will be boarding the Thai Airways flight TG342 from the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport, Karachi, on September 3. 

Babar Masih is the lone Pakistani cueist to have been invited for the Sagnsom 6-Red World Championship 2016 on the basis of his performance at the various international and regional events in the recent past. 

International referee, Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, who is also an Executive Committee member of the PBSA, is the third member of the Pakistan squad for the six-day event, being staged in the Thailand capital.

Babar Masih, having emerged as one of the leading cueists of the country, follows the footsteps of compatriots Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sajjad, Hamza Akbar and Mohammad Majid Ali, who had been invited in the earlier editions of the global tournament.

As in the past, the 48 participating cueists from all over the world have been divided equally in eight groups for the preliminary rounds with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh of Thailand being the reigning champion. At the end of the league matches, the top four from each group will move into the knock-out stage.

Hailing from the city of Rawalpindi, Babar Masih has been placed in the Group alongwith Stuart Bingham (England), Ryan Day (Wales), Wayne Brown (England), Dareen Morgan (Wales) and Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm (Thailand). 

The event, launched by the Billiard Sports Association of Thailand (BSAT) in 2008, was known as the 6-red Snooker International which was later renamed as the 6-Red World Grand Prix before finally being recognized as the official 6-Red World Championship with the blessings of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).

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