India to host Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships in Ahmedabad from October 7

India will host the second Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships in Ahmedabad from October 7-10, with cueists from nearly 46 countries competing in five disciplines. The BSFI has named a 13-member Indian squad for the four-day international event.

Hyderabad: As one of the world’s premier destinations for cue sports, India will host the second Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships from October 7-10 at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad.

The four-day extravaganza will see cueists from nearly 46 countries compete across five disciplines – billiards, snooker, heyball, 10-ball pool and blackball — in both men’s and women’s categories. The championships will feature 16 players in each category in four disciplines, while billiards, which has been included in the programme this year, will be an eight-player draw in each section.

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The championships will be held under the aegis of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS) and the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI), and organised by Apex Sports.

“Ahmedabad is becoming an increasingly important city on the international sporting map, and hosting the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships here is a significant opportunity for our sport and for India,” said Ishaun Singh, president of the World Pool Association (WPA).

“With the city now preparing to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, this event gives us an opportunity to build a strong connection with the sporting community and audiences here. India has an extraordinary history in cue sports, and from everything we have seen through our recent events, I am confident that India can become one of the leading cue sports nations in the world,” the world body chief added.

“This is the second of the three big-ticket events we will be hosting as part of BSFI’s centenary celebrations,” said S Balasubramaniam, president of the BSFI. “The federation successfully hosted the heyball World Championships, the highest-ever cue sports prize money event in the country, earlier this month in Pune. The festivities will conclude with the IBSF World Snooker Championships in Indore (Nov 12-21).”

The BSFI president was confident that several international events will further accelerate the growth of cue sports in the country, which has a rich heritage in the sport.

The BSFI named the squad for the Ahmedabad championships on Tuesday. Thirteen cueists (six men and seven women) will represent the country at the four-day event. Players for the events were picked after the selection trials at the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) over the weekend.

Vidya Pillai (women’s heyball gold medallist), Shivam Arora (men’s heyball silver medallist) and Chitra Magimairaj (women’s 10-ball pool silver medallist) received direct entries. However, Chitra received her direct entry email only after finishing her matches in the trials.

The Indian cueists won five medals – one gold, two silver and two bronze medals – in the inaugural edition.

The squad: Men: Billiards: Siddharth Parikh.

Snooker: Rayaan Razmi.

Heyball: Shivam Arora (Direct entry), Laxman Rawat.

10-ball pool: Divya Sharma.

Blackball: Sundeep Gulati.

Women: Billiards: Anupama Ramachandran.

Snooker: Keerthana Pandian.

Heyball: Vidya Pillai (Direct entry), Amee Kamani.

10-ball pool: Chitra Magimairaj (Direct entry), Neena Praveen.

Blackball: Natasha Chethan.

Coach: Ashok Shandilya.