Asian Billiards and Under 21 Snooker Championships kicks off in Colombo

The Asian Billiards and Under 21 Snooker Championships began yesterday at Hotel Ramada Colombo under the aegis of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka.

The Championship was declared open by Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem and will go on till 8 March. Matches will start at 10.00 a.m. daily.

Twelve countries are taking part in the games, with 23 billiard players and 32 under 21 snooker players vying for the honours. Total prize money on offer is Rs. 1.2 Million.

Eight billiards and eight snooker players will be taking part from Sri Lanka.

Defending champions and star players taking part in the tournament are as follows:

BILLIARDS

Seed No. 1: Dhruv Sitwala (Left Handed Cueist) India - 2015 Asian Billiards Champion (defending)

Highest Break Billiards – 463 points.

Seed No. 2: Pankaj Advani (Right Handed Cueist) India -15-time World Champion, five-time Asian Billiards Champion: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012High Break Billiards – 867 points.

Seed No. 5: Peter Gilchrist – Singapore – two-time IBSF World Billiards Champion

Sri-Lanka No. 1 player: K. H. Sirisoma 24-time National Champion

UNDER 21 SNOOKER

Seed No. 1: Yuan Sijun– China - 2015 Asian under - 21 runner up

Seed No. 3: Cheung KaWai - Hong Kong China -2015 IBSF under18 World Champion - 2015 European under 18 Open Championship runner up - current Hong Kong under 21 ranked no. 1 player

Seed No. 6: Yotharuck, Ratchayothin – Thailand -2013 Asian Under-21 Championship bronze medalist - 

Former World Under-21 Championship quarter-finalist -Thailand Youth ranked no. 1 player

2015 Asian under 21 last 16.

Seed 8 and Sri-Lanka ranked no. 1 player M. S. M. Fazil Junior National winner

There will be five sessions of 40 matches per day till the round robin is completed on the 5 March.

The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played from 6 to 8 March.

Both finals will be worked off at 10.00am on 8 March.

The award presentation will be held on 8 March under the patronage of Minister of Spots Dayasiri Jayasekera attending as the Chief Guest.

The proceedings of the tournament can be viewed live by logging onto www.acbs.qa

Pix by Lasantha Kumara

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