Hamza Akbar

Born in Faisalabad city of Pakistan, Akbar is a two-time national snooker champion. Akbar won his first major international title at the age 22, beating Pankaj Advani of India 7–6 in the final in of Asian Snooker Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April 2015 to become the third player from Pakistan in 16 years to win Asia's top snooker title.^[3] The title earned him a two-year card for the main snooker tour, beginning with the 2015–16 season.^[4]

He threatened a comeback from 4–0 against two-time world champion Mark Williams in the first round of the 2015 UK Championship, but lost 6–4.^[5] He took Michael Holt to a deciding frame in the opening round of the Welsh Open and made a break of 52, but was beaten 4–3. His most remarkable performance in his first season on the main tour came at the World Snooker Championship where he defeated world number 33 Jamie Jones 10–5 in the first qualifying round, before losing 10–3 to Ian Burns.^[6]

Akbar qualified for the 2016 Indian Open by overcoming Chris Wakelin 4–1, but could not attend the event because India refused to grant him a visa.^[7] He received a bye through to the second round of the Northern Ireland Open and lost 4–2 to Josh Boileau.^[8] Akbar would have dropped off the tour at the end of the season due to being ranked world number 112, well outside the top 64 who remain, but he received special dispensation and received a new two-year tour card due to his visa problems which have forced him to miss many events in the past.^[9][10]

He practices at Oldham Snooker Academy.^[11]