Date:19/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/19/stories/2008031960882600.htm

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Snooker event from March 22

CHENNAI: The main draw of the inaugural John W. Roberts invitation open snooker tournament will be held from March 22 to April 2 at Madras United Club premises.

Several young and talented youngsters from Tamil Nadu and quite a few from other States are taking part in the tournament.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, D. Shashikant, the tournament chairman, said the ongoing qualifying rounds, which conclude on March 22, had attracted 96 entries from which four will qualify.

In the main draw, 36 players have been invited to play the round robin league format consisting of eight groups. The top two from each group will play in the pre-quarterfinals.

2002 Busan Asian Games gold medallist Rafath Habib, current State champion R. Loganathan, and other top State cueists including R. Girish, S.A. Saleem, Siddarth Rao will participate.

Prominent outstation players are Kamal Chawla (Western Railways), reigning junior national champion Shabaaz Adil Khan, Aditya Agarwal (Maharashtra).

R.B. Ganesh, the chief referee, said the total prize money of the tournament is Rs. 37,000 and the winner and runner-up will take home Rs. 14,000 and Rs. 7500 respectively. — Principal Correspondent