Pakistan Cueists' Participation In Key Int'l Event Doubtful Due To Fund Crunch: PBSA Chairman

Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) Chairman Alamgir A Shaikh said on Tuesday that participation of country's cueists in international events was doubtful due to financial constraints as the federation had not been received any funding by Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) during the ongoing year

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jan, 2019 ) :Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) Chairman Alamgir A Shaikh said on Tuesday that participation of country's cueists in international events was doubtful due to financial constraints as the federation had not been received any funding by Pakistan Sports board (PSB) during the ongoing year.

"The annual grant issued by the government helps us meet around 30 to 40 per cent of our total expenditures. But our grant for the ongoing year has not been released yet, which has made participation of our cueists in international events doubtful," he said this while speaking at Rawalpindi and Islamabad Sports Journalists Association's (RISJA) "Meet the Press" programme here along with PBSA President Munawwar Hussain Shaikh.

In the near future, Pakistan cueists are scheduled to participate in Asian 21 Snooker Championship, Asian 6 Red Team Championship and Asian Men Championship. All these events will take place in Doha, Qatar by the end of April, this year. But Alamgir Shaikh said that keeping in view the present situation he was not in a position to say whether Pakistan cueists would be able to participate in these important international events or not. "If the situation remains as it is, then it may be difficult," he Alamgir said.

He said that despite outstanding performance of the federation it had not been given even a single penny by the PSB during the ongoing year. "During this year our cueists have already featured in three international events.

And all the expenses for participation in these events were borne by the federation itself," he added.

He sought government's help to resolve the financial issues of the federation. "We have already met Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination and requested her to help resolve our core issues. Now we also request to the prime minister to take notice of the situation," he said.

"We are among the five to six sports federations out of the above 40, whose performance has been outstanding over the years. Hence we don't see any reason for not issuing us our grant," he added.

The PBSA chairman said that the federation would also hold Pakistan Super Snooker League in April, this year. "Top international players will be seen in action in the League along with country's cueists," he said.

To a question he said that the Task Force on Sports, headed by Ehsan Mani had not made any contact with the federation to seek its proposals. "We could have given our input for the betterment of snooker, but we were not contacted by the Task Force. So I don't have any idea as what sort of recommendations it has submitted to the prime minister", he added.

"The snooker, kabaddi, tennis, hockey and squash federations have their own issues and a system of functioning. I will requestthe prime minister to include legends of these sports in the Task Force for the betterment of sports in the country", he said.