KARACHI The National Assemblys Standing Committee on Sports has assured the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association (PBSA) that it would be given all the assistance it needed to promote the sport in the country. This was stated in a news release of the PBSA issued here Thursday. Chairman committee Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan and other members along with the Secretary Sports and Director General Pakistan Sports Board extended assurance during a meeting they had held recently at Islamabad with the president of the PBSA Alamgir Shaikh. After giving patient hearing, the Chairman requested the Secretary Sports to expedite the required NOC from the Interior Ministry and release the necessary funds required, enabling the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association to finalise arrangements for the coaching programme that the PBSA had chalked out. The DG PBS informed the committee that the Karachi Snooker Academy which was already in progress at the PSB Coaching Centre in Karachi, would be handed over to the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association within two months. The chairman also assured the PBSA official that Rs. four million, which is half of the amount that the body needed for its activities annually, would be given to it. He also appreciated the efforts of the PBSA for generating half of the needed amount of Rs four million on its own. The PBS has thanked the committee for sympathetic hearing and for the promise it had made to the snooker body.