Hyderabad will host the Indian Open snooker championship from July 5 to 9, according to Capt. P. V. K. Mohan, president of the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India. Capt. Mohan informed the event had come to Hyderabad, though Chennai was to originally host it, on the request of the Telangana Billiards and Snooker Association president K. Vishweshwar Reddy.
“Given the appreciation from the cue sports fraternity for hosting the 2003 World billiards and the 2009 World snooker championships, we are confident of raising the bar again here even as leading stars are expected to take part,” the BSFI chief said.
“There will be many more major events in the coming months ahead of the World billiards and snooker championships scheduled later this year. The objective is to give the players all the opportunities to be in the best frame of mind for the Worlds,” he said.
'Hub of cue sports'
“India has become the hub of cue sports and every time the Indians enter any major Asian or World championships, they return with bagful of medals,” Capt. Mohan commented.
On the world class cue sports academy ‘Crucible’ planned long back in Hyderabad, Capt. Mohan, who is also the president of IBSF, said the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh had delayed the process and hoped the new Telangana State body would speed up the work.
BSFI secretary S. Balasubramaniam said that the top two in each category of the qualifying tournament (both billiards and snooker), which began here on Thursday, would be eligible to represent India in the World championships later this year. “In our case, we can get one more entry by virtue of the rankings of the leading Indian players,” he added.
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