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Twelve Indians for World U-21 snooker
Eight Indian boys and four girls will be seen in action at the Vascon-Manisha World Under 21 Snooker Championship in Goa.
Eight Indian boys including reigning junior national champion Rishabh Pandya and four girls will be seen in action at the Vascon-Manisha World Under 21 Snooker Championship to be held in Goa from August 22-31.
The championship carrying $12,000 as prize money has attracted 64 top young boys from 25 countries across the globe. Players would be split into eight groups in the preliminary league stage, apart from eight girl contestants who will have a separate event.
The event is a very important one on the calendar of the world amateur body for cue games -- the International Billiards and Snooker Federation -- as it's the stepping stone for entering the professional ranks straight away, said billiards legend Michael Ferreira at a media conference here.
"If you look at the history of this championship you will see names like Ronnie O'Sullivan of England, Ken Doherty (Republic of Ireland) and Peter Ebdon (England) who went on to clinch the world professional crowns later on," said Ferreira, the President of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra.
The championship has been dedicated to the memory of late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The Indian participants are:
Boys: Rishabh Pandya (Maharashtra), Shravan Mohta (Maharashtra), Shivam Arora (Bihar), Younis Kuchey (Jammu and Kashmir), Shahbaz Adil Khan (West Bengal), Balaji Reddy, Ajay Bhushan (both Karnataka) and Pushpinder Singh (Delhi).
Girls: Arantza Sanchis (Maharashtra), Keerat Bhandaal (Delhi), Lavanya Bhaskaran (Tamil Nadu) and Akansha Singh (Andhra Pradesh).
