John W Roberts Memorial Snooker tourney from Mar 22

Chennai, Mar 19 (UNI) About 100 cueists from various parts of the country will vie for honours at the inaugural John W Roberts Memorial All India Invitation Open Snooker tournament, to be held here from March 22 to April two.

The Madras United Club would be hosting the event, in which several young and talented youngsters from Tamil Nadu and a few from other States would participate.

Tournament Chairman D Shasikanth told reporters here last night that the qualifying rounds, to identify four qualifiers, had commenced and it would conclude on March 22, when the main draw matches would begin.

He said the main draw, comprising 36 players, would have eight groups and would be played in a round-robin league format. The top two teams from each group would make it to the pre-quarters.

Busan Asian Games gold medallist Rafath Habib, reigning Junior National Champion Shabaaz Adil Khan, Aditya Agarwal of Maharashtra, Kamal Chawla of Western Railways, Tamil Nadu Champion R Loganathan, and other top State cueists, including R Girish, S A Saleem and former national champion Siddarth Rao were the prominent players in the fray.

Mr R B Ganesh would be the chief referee of the tournament.

UNI GV GD RKM RS1305