It is time for snooker league

The auction of players will be held in Coimbatore on July 27 and the top two teams will take home Rs. 1 lakh, and Rs. 75,000 respectively.

July 25, 2014 09:28 am | Updated 09:28 am IST - Coimbatore

Already 70 players have registered for the Snooker Premier League to be held in Erode from August 13. Photo: Special Arrangement

Already 70 players have registered for the Snooker Premier League to be held in Erode from August 13. Photo: Special Arrangement

The Indian Premier League has inspired various sports associations to hold big-time events on similar lines. The latest to join the list is the Tamil Nadu All Districts Billiards and Snooker Association, which is all set to create some excitement in cue sports by staging the Snooker Premier League at the S.S. Sports Academy in Erode from August 13 to 17.

The top two teams will take home Rs. 1 lakh, and Rs. 75,000 respectively.

It is perhaps for the first time in India that snooker is being played under this format. Six teams — Kanyakumari Kings (owner Jeyan), Pot Black Madurai (Danny), Royal Challengers Tirupur (Suresh Ram), The Trichy Tigers (Vasanth), Coimbatore Snooker Kings (Santhosh), and Erode Emperors (Surendran) — have been formed for the first edition of the event, which will involve players from across the State except Chennai.

Each team will consist of 10 players, who will be auctioned at the Clarion Hotel in Coimbatore on July 27. Top class players for the auction include national and former State champion R. Girish, 23-time State billiards king Prem Prakash, State snooker star Senthil and Praveen and Parthiban, the No. 2 and 3 ranked billiards players. The teams are aware the higher the bid the better the pick. S. Surendran, the association secretary, was the man who sparked the idea. And, the rest of the bunch wel comed his decision.

“Focus in cue sports in the State has now shifted from Chennai to the districts. It’s almost five years now,” said Mr. Suren dran, who is also the secre tary of the Erode District Billiards and Snooker Asso ciation.

Mr. Surendran has been pretty active in the sport. He was instru mental in hosting the Sri Lanka versus Tamil Nadu series in Erode and Kodaikanal and national level tournaments in Madurai, Coimbatore and Erode. He also brought down multiple world champion Pankaj Advani and later organised a coaching camp involving Dell Hill, the coach of world champion and the legendary Ronnie O’ Sullivan.

The association president, Prem Prakash, from Coimbatore said the league will provide the players in the district a chance to prove their worth. “It's going to benefit them and will be a hit in the years to come.”

“We have been planning this for the past two years. Initially, we proposed a team championship but later shifted to this event to give all the district players a chance to get noticed,” he added. “It is an important breakthrough, a major milestone,” said Mr. Senthil of Madurai.

“Indian players have achieved much at the world level. But back in India, it has not created much impact. I must admit that there are plenty of talent in the districts. There are many players who are making century breaks. They need to be encouraged. The league will be the answer. It will be successful from the start,” he added.

“The league is already a huge success in terms of registrations [about 70] of players. Also, the idea behind the tournament is to deviate from the more traditional style and with it provide a chance for the beginners and the much experienced players to mingle and share their valuable experiences,” said Vasanth of Tiruchi.

He said the event has been carefully designed to encourage both snooker and billiards. “To encourage participation, we have provided free food and accommodation during tournament dates.”

Though it is being held for the first time, we are not taking it as an experiment. We are working hard on making it big at each stage. We are looking at it as a start to something big for the future, say nationally, he added. He said districts in Tamil Nadu will be the catchment areas for world champions in the near future.

“And, SPL will be our stepping stone.”

The organisers have also pooled in professional coaches such as Rajmohan, Varun Kumar, Loganathan and Balaji Reddy for the teams and, with it, take the sport to the next level in the districts.

“It is a new concept. It's going to be thrilling all the way because I have been conducting small events of this sort, with no auction and no owners, with much success. Our dream is to take the sport to the masses and make it even more appealing,” said Suresh Ram of Tirupur.

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