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Yasin Merchant Doubles Classic Snooker Tournament
Islam Gymkhana - Mumbai
14-21 February 2008
Press Conference - 11.02.2008
Tournament Committee members - (L->R) :: Meenal Thakur, Yusuf Abrahani, Yasin Merchant and Iqbal Khakhu.
The cream of Indian cueists will feature in the Yasin Merchant Classic Invitation Snooker Doubles Tournament from 14-21 February 2008 at the Islam Gymkhana. The week-long extravaganza will comprise SIX Pairs each in Group 'A' and Group 'B' that will include a galaxy of Indian stars, for a feast of pulsating snooker action.
In Group 'A' are, Indian Lions (Alok Kumar-Yasin Merchant), Steady Eddies (Rupesh Shah-Rafath Habib), Action Jacksons (Sarang Shroff-Kamal Chawla), Cool Cats (Lucky Vatnani-Amit Saboo), Super Siblings (Meenal Thakur-Anuja Chandra) and Junior Jacks (Rishabh Pandya-Hasan Badami). While in Group 'B' are, Young Turks (Pankaj Advani-Manan Chandra), Towering Titans (Geet Sethi-Aditya Mehta), Dynamic Duo (Devendra Joshi-Ashok Shandilya), Sharp Shooters (Brijesh Damani-Shravan Mohta), Southern Stars (Vidya Pillai-Chitra Magimairaj) and Bengali Babus (Sourav Kothari-Shahbaaz Khan).
The league-cum-knock out competition will see the top two teams from each group with the maximum points qualify for the semi-finals that will be played on February 20, followed by the final on February 21.
The winning team will earn Rs.1 Lakh, while the runners-up will take home Rs.50,000. In addition, the semi-finalists will receive Rs.35,000, while Rs.3,000 will be awarded for the first break of over 140. In addition, leading cue sport manufacturer Nagee & Co will award a billiards & snooker table worth about Rs. 2.5 lakh to the FIRST player who constructs a break of 147.
Each match will be played over five frames, i.e. all five frames have to be played up to the end of league matches and all seven frames for the semi finals and final. Every frame shall be a maximum of 25 minutes. In case the frame is not completed at the end of 25 minutes, whichever team is ahead at that stage wins the frame. Each player will be allowed only 25 seconds per shot. In case of a tie at any stage, a best-of-three black ball shoot-out will be played, where the team will nominate one player to play the black-ball tie breaker. Also lined up is an exciting ‘6-Ball Single Frame Knock Out’ competition on the morning of February 21, the day of the final.
On the occasion, the Yasin Merchant Fan Club will honour Administrative Secretary of The Billiards & Snooker Association Mr. Malcolm Andrade for his commitment and yeoman’s service to the sport. A special award also will be presented to The Free Press Journal Sports Editor Don Monteiro for his remarkable commitment and indefatigable support to the promotion of billiards and snooker.