Pune: Hey, look there, that’s Heyball. A Green baize sport, which is a combination of snooker and pool, and bidding to get into the Olympic Games’ roster as a medal sport, will see the best of Indian cueists competing in the NSCI National Heyball championship from tomorrow, August 17 to 26 at the NSCI, Delhi. There are four cueists from Pune in frame: Abhijit Ranade, Anand Raghuvanshi, Shivam Arora, and Mahesh Jagdale.
” The Championship, being organised by the Delhi Billiards and Snooker Association (DBSA) and Haryana Billiards Association, is aimed at preparing Indian cueists for the tougher international tournaments, as this format of cue sport is fast gaining popularity,” said Ravi Tandon, secretary of the DBSA.
The Billiards and Snooker Federation of India President, Balaji Subramanian, said that the world body of cue sport is working to get this sport into the Olympic Games as heyball is gaining popularity worldwide. Heyball is a modern, fast-paced cue sport, formerly known as Chinese 8-Ball. The game is played on snooker-like table with pool-like balls. ” Its playing style requires extreme precision and is strategy-based, explained Subramanian.
The National Championship will be inaugurated by world champion Pankaj Advani.
Those national-level players who have confirmed their entries are: Aditya Mehta, Brijesh Damani, Sourav Kothari, Divya Sharma, Alok Kumar, Shivam Madan, Laxman Rawat, Rafath Habib, Sundeep Gulati, Vijay Goel, Vidya Pillai, Chitra, and R. Uma Devi.
