IPL-like tourney for cue sports

Sports authorities in India are trying their best to present their sport on a larger scale to the audience. Now, Indian cueists seem to have taken a leaf out of cricket and hockey. Billiards and Snooker Association of India and Sasha Sanvi, a cueist from Karnataka, are planning to have a franchise-based billiards tourney just like the IPL.

Though still in the conception stage, the idea is to have billiards, snooker and pool in the same platform. In this regard, a presentation will be made on April 7 in Goa during the Asian Championship 2012.

Confirming the news, Billiards and Snooker Association of India’s secretary S Balasubramaniam said, “While amateur billiards doesn’t pay really well, snooker and pool are only played at the professional level and the prize money is good. If the tournament generates a positive response, we hope to get good sponsors. The plan is to have snooker, pool and billiards players under the same platform.”

Both national and international players will play in the same team, much like the IPL or the World Series Hockey in order to up the standard of the competition.

Devendra Joshi, a committee member of the Maharashtra Billiards and Snooker Association and one of the participants in the Asian Billiards Championships, said, “Sanvi is passionate about promoting the sport and hopes the presentation leads to an approval for the tournament.”

Meanwhile, the players are already excited. Veteran cueist Arun Agrawal admits that billiards does not queue up sponsors like cricket. “If a tournament like this comes through, not only will it mean good money, there will be intense competition. Better the competition, the more you improve as a player,” he said.

The Asian tournament starts on April 2 at Goa, with the billiards team comprising Alok Kumar, Pankaj Advani, Rupesh Shah, Arun Agrawal, Devendra Joshi and Dhruv Sitwala.