Bengaluru To Host Billiards Championship
It has recently been confirmed that the IBSF World Billiards Championship will definitely be held in Bengaluru from September 1-10.
There has been speculation that the event may be re-scheduled to another city or even postponed because of the bomb explosions last month.
Despite the terrorist threat, it has now been verified that the IBSF will continue to proceed with the World Billiard Championships and feature top players such as current world champion, Mike Russell and Peter Gilchrist. Defending Champion and local heroes, Pankaj Advani and former champion Geet Sethi will be flying the flag for India.
S. Balasubramanium, the Vice President of the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India said ‘Initially there were a few concerns expressed and we nearly put off the event, but now we have assured all players of adequate security. The show will go on and we will make it a memorable event.’
Originally, the last date for entries was August 15th but has now been extended to August 22nd – the reason for this is because the tournament hopes to receive more entrants from countries such as Australia, Pakistan, and Myanmar.
‘Since we had not received entries from these countries, we decided to extend the date by a week. Although Pakistani players may not be able to make it as it is quite late for them to go through visa formalities, we are expecting entries from Australia and Myanmar,’ explained Balasubramanium.
Bengaluru haven’t hosted the event since 1990 when Manoj Kothari held the title.
For more information, read in International Billiards & Snooker Federation's site.