Hyderabad: The very best of world snooker will be in Hyderabad next month when the Indian Open, a world ranking tournament, will be played here at the HICC Novotel from July 5 to 9.
The third edition of the event, hosted by the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) in conjunction with the Telangana Cue Sports Association (TCSA) will see the world’s top 64 players in action. “These have come through a qualifying process held in Preston (England) last month involving 128 players,” Capt. PVK Mohan, President of BSFI as well as International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) informed reporters on Friday.
Among the heavyweights are IBSF world champion Pankaj Advani and current World Games champion Aditya Mehta. The six Indian wild card entrants are local lad Lucky Vatnani, Manan Chandra (India No.2), Ishpreet Chadha (India No.3), Kamal Chawla and Dilip Kumar.
Defending champion Michael White, 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham, current World No.4 Shuan Murphy, last year’s runner up Ricky Walden and a host of Chinese players provide the international flavour.
Pankaj was excited. “I never thought I’d play an event of this magnitude in India, and to think that we’re already in the third edition is mainly due to two people — IBSF president Capt. Mohan and BSFI secretary S. Balasubramanian,” he said.
Terming the tournament a ‘dream’, Capt. Mohan said it was “proud privilege to host the third edition.” This would have been played in Chennai, he revealed, but for TCSA president and Member of Parliament Konda Vishweshwar Reddy’s insistence.
“This augurs well for the city’s theme of Happening Hyderabad and puts us on the world map,” the TRS MP said, promising the players “true Hyderabadi hospitality during their stay here.”
