MICH’s Fazil wins novices pot black title
View(s):Mohamed Fazil of MICH won the novices pot black tournament organised by the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka (BASSL) when he defeated Mohamed Rasheed of MSC in the final played at the Cue Café Club in Colombo.
The tournament which is a concept mooted by the incumbent president and vice president of the BASSL Zuraish Hashim and Zulsky Passela was exclusively held for young cueists who underwent training with World billiard champion Mike Russell.
Mohamed Fazil of MICH, winner of he novices pot black tournament receiving his trophy from Mike Russell
Russell who coached the youngsters for a considerable period of time was supported by Kusal Dinesh and on his advice the officials of the BASSL after the conclusion of the training to conduct a pot black tournament with the aim of encouraging them for which ten youngsters from various clubs were selected to participate.
The young cueists who took part in the pot black tournament comprised Mohamed Fazil (MICH), M.M. Rikaz (MICH), M. Shamil (MICH), M.S.M. Rasheed (MSC), Shashika Perera (The Cue Club), T. Thanji (YMCA), M. Rimzan (Army) and K. Priyanath (YMCA).
The ten young cueists selected by coach Russell has been identified as players who are of champion material in the future. The training is also held to select the players for the Asian Youth Snooker Championship conducted by the Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in 2017.
Zuraish Hashim president of the BASSL speaking to the Sunday Times said that they have an idea of sending some of the young cueists who are undergoing training abroad. Also they are in the process of finding employment for them so that they would be financially stable to put in more hours of training.
Likewise they have now given the cueists the start and it’s left to them to show dedication to the game and take the interest if they are looking forward to be good players in the future.