Hamza Akbar (Urdu:حمزه اكبر; born 12 November 1993) is a Pakistani former professional snooker player who won the 31st Asian Snooker Championship held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2015. He is also the Pakistan national champion 2015.
Career 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. The title earned him a two-year card for the main snooker tour, beginning with the 2015–16 season.
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. 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.
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. He received a bye through to the second round of the Northern Ireland Open and lost 4–2 to Josh Boileau. 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.
He practices at Oldham Snooker Academy.Akbar back on tour, Oldham Chronicle, 26 April 2017
Performance and rankings timeline Tournament 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20RankingIt shows the ranking at the beginning of the seasonNew players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking81Players qualified through special dispensation started the season without prize money ranking points89He was an amateurRanking tournamentsRiga MastersThe event was called the Riga Open (2015/2016)MRLQLQALQInternational ChampionshipLQLQLQLQAChina ChampionshipNHNRLQLQAEnglish OpenNH1R1R1RAWorld OpenNHLQWDAANorthern Ireland OpenNH2R1R3RAUK Championship1R1R1R1RAScottish OpenNHA2R1RAEuropean MastersNHLQWDLQAGerman MastersLQALQLQAWorld Grand PrixDNQDNQDNQDNQDNQWelsh Open1R1R1R1RAShoot OutNR2R3R2RAPlayers ChampionshipThe event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2015/2016)DNQDNQDNQDNQDNQGibraltar OpenMR1R1R3RATour ChampionshipNot HeldDNQDNQWorld ChampionshipLQLQLQLQWDFormer ranking tournamentsShanghai MastersWDLQLQNon-RankingPaul Hunter ClassicMRWDWDANRIndian OpenNHWDWDWDNHChina OpenLQWD1RLQNH Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
Career finals Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles) OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreWinner 1. 2013 Pakistan National Championship Imran Shahzad8–7Runner-up 1. 2014 Pakistan National Championship Mohammad Asif Toba5–8Winner 2. 2015 Pakistan National Championship Shahram Changezi8–4Winner 3. 2015 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship Pankaj Advani7–6
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