Myanmar Host The 7th Asian Billiards Championships
Over the next week Myanmar are hosting the 7th Asian Billiards Championships and the 9th U-21 Asian snooker championships. Both tournaments will be played in Yangon, Xinhua commencing April 5th and held at the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel.
There will be 55 players participating in the tournament from 14 different countries. The eight day event will be separated into two tournaments, one for billiards and the other for snooker. 25 professionals will compete in the Billiards Championship and the remaining 30 players will contend for the U-21’s Snooker Championship.
Fourteen Countries are participating in the second tournament hosted by Myanmar. The cue players are representing countries such as, China, India, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Sri-Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Myanmar are proud to be entering some of their top cueists. Their top potters are Kyaw Oo, who is already the holder of the Billiards Doubles Title along with Aung san Oo which was won at the 24th South East Asian (SEA) games in Thailand, Dec 2007. Aung San Oo is also the 2006 Billiards Champion and Aung Htay was last years bronze winner. Myanmar has an excellent reputation and its players always display impressive form. Kyaw Oo recognises the level of competition that has entered into the tournament, he told China View News,
‘We are used to competing with them and I believe we can achieve some good results at the tournament.’
This year, the Myanmar snooker team will make their debut at the U-21 snooker championship. Myanmar’s top players are Naing Lin Thu, Hein Lwin Hoe, Win Khine, Ye Zaw Htut, and Zaw Win Cho.
The first time that Myanmar hosted an event was at the Plaza Hotel in March 2003, where seven Asian Countries took part. This year is set to be a success as fourteen countries compete in the double tournament. The event runs for eight days in total and concludes April 12th.
Myanmar Billiards and Snooker Federation were founded in April 1996. So far they have collected 16 medals in total, 3 gold, 7 silver, and 6 bronze from various competitions in the past eleven years.