Billiards nationals to continue from tomorrow
View(s):The knockout rounds of the 61st National Billiards Champion which will determine the master of cues will begin with the participation of Sri Lanka’s best controllers of the three-ball game tomorrow. 21-time national champion and defending title holder K.H. Sirisoma will be the firm favourite amongst 15 other contenders when the competition sets off from the pre-quarterfinal stage at the transitory headquarters of Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka (BSASL), located at the Sugathadasa Hotel in Colombo.
However it looks to be a record 22nd time for Sirisoma of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, or one of his jinx-makers from Moors Sports Club, Abdul Sattar or S.H.M. Aslam.
K.H. Sirisoma will be eyeing his 22nd title win - File pic
Five players from Moors SC have entered the fray in addition to four contenders from Sri Lanka Army with M.M. Mubeen being another title prospect. Besides Sirisoma, SLPA will have Rohitha de Silva but one of them will not make it to the next step, as both of them are slotted to meet each other in the eighth game of the pre-quarters. One player each from Automobile Association, Galle CC, Otters AC, YMCA and MICH have made it into the top 16 who will vie for the Singer Challenge Trophy.
In the first of four games scheduled for tomorrow at 11.00am, Mubeen of Army will take on Moors’ Faizal Haniffa followed by the game between Aslam and Automobile’s Anil Rohana at 2.30pm. From the bottom half, Army’s W.M. Chandradasa will meet MICH’s Prasanna Pushpakumara at 11.00am while SLPA colleagues Rohitha de Silva and Sirisoma is set to clash at 2.30pm. On Tuesday morning Moors veteran S.M. Shaharwadie is set to meet M.M. Jiffry from Galle while Army’s R.M.P. Ratnayake will meet G. Devaproya of YMCA.
In the afternoon matches Army’s A.D.R.C. Alwis will take on Moors’ A.A. Kareem and Moors’ Sattar takes on T. Samarasinghe of Otters. The pre-quarters and quarterfinals which are set for Wednesday, will be played as best of seven frames. The semi-finals which will be played on Thursday will have two frames extended with the final match scheduled for next Sunday will have 11 frames. The competition is sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka for the second consecutive year. – NA