BENGALURU: India will host the second Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships from October 7-10 at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad.
The four-day meet will see cueists from nearly 46 countries compete across five disciplines – billiards, snooker, heyball, 10-ball pool and blackball — in both categories (men and women). The championships will feature 16 players in each category in four disciplines, while billiards, which has been included in the programme this year, will be an eight-player draw in each section.
The championships will be held under the aegis of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS) and the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI), and organised by Apex Sports.
“Ahmedabad is becoming an increasingly important city on the international sporting map, and hosting the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships here is a significant opportunity for our sport and for India,” said Ishaun Singh, president of the World Pool Association (WPA).
“With the city now preparing to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, this event gives us an opportunity to build a strong connection with the sporting community and audiences here,” the world body chief added.
“This is the second of the three big-ticket events we will be hosting as part of BSFI’s centenary celebrations,” said S Balasubramaniam, president of the BSFI.
Indian Squad
The BSFI named the squad for the Ahmedabad championships on Tuesday. Thirteen cueists (six men and seven women) will represent the country at the four-day event. Players for the events were picked after the selection trials at the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) over the weekend.
The squad: Men: Billiards: Siddharth Parikh.
Snooker: Rayaan Razmi.
Heyball: Shivam Arora (Direct entry), Laxman Rawat.
10-ball pool: Divya Sharma.
Blackball: Sundeep Gulati.
Women: Billiards: Anupama Ramachandran.
Snooker: Keerthana Pandian.
Heyball: Vidya Pillai (Direct entry), Amee Kamani.
10-ball pool: Chitra Magimairaj (Direct entry), Neena Praveen.
Blackball: Natasha Chethan.
Coach: Ashok Shandilya.