All preparations have been finalized to stage
the SangSom 6-red Snooker International, a tournament that is bound
to go down as a milestone in the cue sports history books and has
all the ingredients to become the most exciting event of the year.
Addressing a crowded press conference on
Thursday, Sports Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor Chalermchai
Bunyarak praised the efforts of the Billiard Sports Association of
Thailand (BSAT) in making the event possible and adding a brand new
dimension to the discipline of snooker. The tournament takes place
at the five-star Montien Riverside Hotel in Bangkok on July 8-13.
Sindhu Pulsirivong, president of BSAT, told the
press conference that the announcement of the event had created
great excitement at all levels of international snooker and two
former world professional champions, Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty,
had already confirmed their participation. Current world No. 4 Mark
Selby, winner of two Main Tour ranking events in the 2007-2008
season, will also be starring in the event, he added.
A total of 18 Main Tour professionals are likely
to take part in the tournament, beside players from other leading
snooker-playing nations in Asia and Europe and the host country. The
total prize money is in the excess of 1.8 million baht with the
winner taking home 500,000 baht.
Thailand have decided to award direct entries to
its professional stars Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm and Supoj Saenla, while
the remaining six home players will be selected from the first
Thailand 6-red Snooker National Championship on June 12-21 at the
TBC Snooker Centre on Ramkhamhaeng Road.
Sindhu also explained to the press conference
that 6-red snooker is extremely popular in Southeast Asia and it had
made a very successful debut at the 2007 Korat South East Asian
(SEA) Games. "This version of snooker is faster and people really
enjoy watching it. The beauty of it lies in the fact that the
highest possible break in is only 75 points, so players capable of
scoring breaks of 40-plus can easily upset those who regularly
record centuries," he said.
The only difference between the traditional
snooker and 6-red snooker is that in 6-red snooker, the number of
red balls stacked in a triangle behind the pink is reduced to six
balls. All the other IBSF-WPBSA rules apply in the 6-red snooker.
The enthusiasm of international snooker
community has not been limited to players alone.
For the first time in history, top ranking
officials of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association
(WPBSA), International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) and
European, African and Asian bodies will all be gathering on one
platform in Bangkok to attend the tournament.
The Asian officials have high hopes that 6-red
snooker has the potential to grow and that there exists a great
possibility of staging three to four 6-red snooker international
tournaments in as many countries in Asia next year.
Moreover, the interest on the part of media here
has been tremendous. National cable TV network trueVisions has
stepped in to televise live one key match daily from July 8 to 11,
2008, both semifinals on July 12 and the final on July 13, which
will also be beamed live nationwide by the terrestrial NBT (Channel
11).
So far, the following World Snooker Main Tour
players have already confirmed their participation in the tournament
(world rankings in brackets):
