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Big-time snooker returns to city
Big-time cue sport will return to the city after a long gap when the Tamil Nadu Billiards and Snooker Association (TNBSA) hosts the National Six-Red Snooker Championship from December 16.
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Chennai
Kamadheu Mahal, Luz Corner, Mylapore will be the venue for the national in which World Champion Pankaj Advani will be the star attraction. While the qualifying rounds for the event in both men’s and women’s sections start on December 16, the main draw is from December 20 and the finals are slated for December 23, said RB Ganesh, the chief referee of the event, while addressing the media on Thursday.
Defending champion Pankaj Advani, current World No 2 Kamal Chawla, Ishpreet Singh, Faizal Khan, Alok Kumar and Rafath Habib are the notable players participating in the men’s category.
Defending champion Amee Kamani, Vidya Pillai, Chitra Magimairaj, and Arantxa Sanchis are the prominent players in the women’s category.
From Tamil Nadu, the top 16 players will participate in the qualifying rounds. J. Varun Kumar, Pranit Ramachandani S.A. Saleem and S. Shrikrishna are the prominent players from Tamil Nadu in the men’s category.
In the women’s category, Anupama Ramachandran, Neena Praveen, Soumini Srinivas will represent Tamil Nadu.
The double elimination format is used to determine the qualifiers for the main draw.Last year’s top 16 players directly qualify to play in the main draw. In all, 48 players from the qualifying rounds join the main draw and four players of 16 groups play the round robin league. Two Players from each group qualify to play the round of 32 and so on till the final. The women’s category will also be played in the same format.
The championship is conducted under the auspices of Billiards and Snooker Federation of India.
Cue sport in malls and theatres
The Tamil Nadu Billiards and Snooker Association (TNBSA) is blessed with a club of its own in Chennai and conducts league matches and State Championships regularly at its premises. But when a big event comes to the city, it has to go out to the public places to conduct it efficiently because the club has only four tables at its disposal.
Kamadhenu Mahal (Old Kamadhenu theatre) is the latest to join the list of venues selected by TNBSA in the last two decades. “In 2001, we conducted the National Billiards and Snooker Championship in a snooker parlour at the Spencer Plaza mall to promote the game to the common people. That was not a great success,” said RB Ganesh, the chief referee of the National Six-Red Snooker.
The problem with public places is that snooker and billiards, like chess, need protected ambience as noise is a big hindrance and so the idea had to be dropped. “In 2006, we had the nationals at Vijay Mahal in Pondy Bazaar, Chennai (previously known as Nagesh Theatre),” added Ganesh.
This is the first time the National Six Red Snooker Championship is held in Tamil Nadu. Unlike the Karnataka Billiards and Snooker Association, which has a full-fledged hall that can host even international cue sport events, TNBSA’s dream of having a bigger facility still remains on paper. Almost two decades ago, the association tried to get land for the full-fledged club, but the project has not taken off.
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