Friday, Jan 17, 2003
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Billiards & Snooker
By Our Sports Reporter
The top four of the Jammu National and four from an open qualifying tournament will form the squad which will undergo a coaching-cum-selection camp to decide the final entries. Traditionally, the top eight in the National championship are considered for selection to international events. But the Jammu National got mired in controversy when the Billiards and Snooker Players' Association (BSPA) refused to participate, citing security fears. Later, most of the players — except for prominent absentees like Geet Sethi, Antim Singhi and Rupesh Shah — did attend the National here to maintain the sanctity of the championship. The contentious issue of whether to recognise the top eight finishers was still unresolved. In the Managing Committee meeting of the BSFI held on Jan. 12, both the governing body and players came to loggerheads over the issue. Consequently, the BSPA and BSFI agreed to sit together and solve the matter. Two proposals were put forward by the BSPA — top eight of the National getting weighted average and other eight of the proposed open qualifying tournament playing in a selection event — was rejected. Now the onus is on the BSPA to organise the open qualifying event, roughly scheduled to be held from February 1 to 10, either at Mumbai or Bangalore. A selection camp will be organised by the BSFI before every international tournament. "And the top two or three (or more), as may be permitted, will represent India,'' said Mr. C. Kapur, Honorary Secretary, BSFI. The immediate concern would be the Asian billiards championship scheduled at Myanmar, in the first week of March. India is permitted only two entries with defending champion Ashok Shandilya getting a direct entry. Since India is hosting the Asian snooker championship in Kolkata from April 17 to 26, it is allowed three entries as the host. In the past, a host country has fielded a maximum of eight players, but according to the latest Asian Confederation of Billiards Sport (ACBS) directive, only three are allowed now. And, in case of withdrawals, only two extra entries from the host will be allowed.
BSFI gets tough
Meanwhile, the BSFI has decided to impose a one-year ban on those players who gave their entries and then skipped the championship. Those six affected by the ban are Rupesh Shah, Parthiv Jhaveri, Antim Singhi, Achint Verma, Gaurav Nagpal and Rajesh Parwani. In billiards there were eight withdrawals, but Andhra Pradesh's Lucky Vatnani and Farooq Ibrahim were let off as they played the snooker event and left due to financial constraints. ``We have decided to take the Andhra Pradesh association to task for not providing Vatnani and Ibrahim the necessary funds,'' Mr. Kapur added.
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