ISLAMABAD, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistan Billiard and Snooker Association finalized the national team to participate in the upcoming IBSF World Snooker Championship 2013, scheduled to start on Nov. 27 in Lativia, officials said on Monday.
Officials of PBSA said that four-member team will feature in the 12-day non-professional event that will be held from Nov. 27 to Dec. 8 at the Olympic Center of Daugavpils, Latvia.
The Pakistani team comprises of defending champion Muhammad Asif, a former Asian championship runner-up Muhammad Sajjad, and two top national players Muhammad Shahid and Imran Shahzad.
Asif won the title last year after beating British cueist Garay Wilson in the final in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Sajjad was given a wildcard to appear in the competition after he together with Asif won the IBSF World Team Championship last month in Carlow, Ireland.
Official hoped that Pakistan would succeed in defending its title as top four players would represent the country in the event.
The Pakistani team will participate in the competition without any coach as the officials said "no one in the country is ready for the role while foreign coaches are reluctant to come."
However, Abdul Wahid Qadir, a top official of PBSA, will travel as manager of the squad to look after the team.
Besides Asif, Pakistani cueist Muhammad Yousuf also had won the world amateur crown in South Africa in 1994 while another Pakistani snooker star Muhammad Saleh qualified for the final in China in 2004, but lost to India's Pankaj Advani.