Pakistan’s top snooker player turns to crowdfunding

KARACHI (Monitoring Desk): Pakistan’s top snooker professional Hamza Akbar has initiated crowdfunding to support his career after being let down by unavailability of sponsors or any financial support from his home country.

26-year-old Hamza turned professional after winning the Asian Snooker Championship beating India’s Pankaj Advani in 2015. Since turning pro, Hamza has been pursuing his career in the UK.

However, lack of funds and some visa issues halted his progress and he slipped out of top 100 in rankings after once being among best players. He is now eyeing a comeback in the circuit through Qschool professional tournament which starts next month and to enter in that tournament he needs to submit 1,000 GBP.

“I don’t have enough finances, I didn’t get any sponsor and that’s why I have created a website for crowdfunding where people can support me,” Hamza told private channel from Manchester. His crowdfunding is hosted at justgiving.com forum and, unfortunately, he hasn’t raised even a single penny through the forum till the filing of this report.

“It is not easy to continue playing in the professional circuit. You need to pay registration fees, you need to travel, and you need to pay the coaches. It is not just easy for someone like me to continue without financial support,” he said.

Hamza said that he came to the UK four years ago and has not received much support from back home since he turned a professional cueist. “I have won Asian Championship for Pakistan, I have won twice the national championship and I want to do well for Pakistan in the professional circuit as well,” he said.