Indian billiards and Snooker

Well i finally get to write about a sport i am very passionate about, Snooker. It is a little known fact that Snooker was invented in INDIA. The game was thought up by British Troops who were posted in India to while away time. We have produced many greats in the world or billiards and snooker and have a flurry of sportsmen and women who have won many an International event.

Snooker

Indian Snooker players however are little known in world snooker. This is because we only participate and win IBSF tournaments. IBSF is the governing body of the amateur sport and holds many tournaments. Snooker is a sport with a huge fan following and its professional tournaments which are governed by the WPBSA are a gala affair. The players usually feature from the UK (England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales) with some international players from countries like China, Australia and Canada.

Indian Players Never Make it to the tournaments held by the WPBSA. This is mainly because of the format that the WPBSA uses, It involves players playing a series of tournaments in the UK and amassing ranking points. At the the end of the season, the top 16 ranked players are invited to the World snooker Championship and another 32 are given the chance to qualify for another 16 spots.

Playing, living in the UK is an expensive proposition for our indian snooker players and since our country is famous for not providing our sportsmen and women with support, Not even our top players see it fit to make the shift and move to the UK for a chance to compete in the World Snooker Championships.

What is the point of having quality sportsmen who are billed and the best in the world, if they do not even compete in the World snooker championships. It does not help that these players are affiliated with the IBSF and never turn pro. The difference between a professional and an amateur is that professionals play the game for a living and hence the prize money involved is very high. The winner of the 2009 world snooker championship received a sum of 250,000 pounds sterling (roughly 400325 USD).

More needs to be done by our Indian Govt. and The various Indian Associations for promoting our talent and giving them a chance to earn a decent living playing for professionally. A good way to do that may be to have Scholarships to sponsor our champions to play abroad. There also has to be a balance between IBSF and WPBSA, or atleast the WPBSA holding some ranking tournaments in India. They have recently focussed on discovering talent from China. I hope that one day soon, they will do the same in India, so our champions will become household names throughout the world.