Gearing up for Asian Snooker C'ship here

Richard Dwight

SNOOKER: The holding of the 22nd Asian Snooker Championship here, by the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka, under the auspices of the Sports Ministry - is indeed an affirmation of the widely growing acceptance of our organizing and administrative ability, in conducting and handing major international sporting events here in the country.

This prestigious tournament, coming under the purview of the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports, takes place at the Pegasus Reef Hotel from the 30th June to the 6th of July 2006 - with Finance and Guarantee of the Ceylinco Group as the main sponsor, while Nawaloka, R. N. constructions Ltd and C.T.V. Creations (Pvt) Ltd, have made generous donations and the likelihood of other well meaning donors chipping in as well, nearer the date.

The aforegoing information was made known to the media at a briefing held on Tuesday at the Fingara Town and country club by the chairman of the organizing committee, Mervyn Jayasinghe, who is also the president of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka.

Jayasinghe also observed that championships such as this, serve not only to promote the game within the Asian region, but also to afford opportunities to the cueists to exercise a competitive spirit not to mention the potential it has to bolster the tourist industry in the country.

The Chairman of the Finance Committee, Shafeck Rajabdeen, who is also the vice President of the BSASL said the budgetary estimate for this tournament is around seven million and it was gathered from him, that apart from the main sponsor, Finance and Guarantee, multi national companies and, those interested in this indoor sport have pledged support.

He also said that there is a tremendous growth in Billiards and snooker especially in well over 35 countries in Asia. According to statistics there are over a 20 million Television audience in Asia and over 10 million viewers in the United Kingdom alone.

The Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports conducts over 10 major tournaments every year and has so gained more than 25 entries into the prestigious World Snooker Championships where prize monies exceed five million pounds Sterling annually.

It was gathered from the Tournament Director, Sarath de Alwis, that 70% of the work has been completed to international standards. The fully refurbished Pegasus Reef Hotel has all the facilities for the participants, officials and the media - the venue committee chairman Dr. Pani Somaratne, the immediate past President has imported the required 6 full size elegant tables in keeping with international specifications for the conduct of the championship.

The BSASL hosted the world snooker championship in 1990 and this was followed by hosting the snooker championship in 1986 and 1988-with this experience the BSASL is on its way to make this championship, both a successful and a memorable one to all.

The championship will commence on Friday June 06 with the opening ceremony at 10.00 am at which the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, will be the chief guest.

Thereafter matches commencing from 1.00 p.m. will be played right through to July 6 and end with the closing ceremony. The AGM of the Asian confederation of Billiard sports will be held on the penultimate day of the tournament on Wednesday July 05. If might be mentioned that the one and only Sri Lankan to win a world championship was M. J. M. Lafir, who won the World Billiard Championship in 1973 in Bombay.

Earlier Duncan White won a Silver and Susanthika Jayasinghe a Bronze at Olympics, with the cricket team the World Cup.

In this Asian Snooker Championship there will be players from 19 countries vying for the title. The defending champion is the Chinese Jin Long who won last year. The group draw for the championship consists of six groups with 5 players and 6 players in two groups.

The groups will play round robin matches totalling 90 matches and sixteen players will be selected by Re-seeding in order of merit to participate in the knockout stage to select the champion of Asia 2006. The Sri Lankan players are Susantha Boteju, Naresh Samarawickreme, S. Pushpakumara, Mi Nagariya and Ryan Somaratne.

The awards on offer are as follow

The winner - 1500 US$ and MJM Lafir challenge Trophy
1st Runner up - 750 US$
2nd Runner up - 750 US$
Two semifinalists - 500 US$ each