SIBU: The winners of each zone of this year’s state snooker championship will represent the state in the national level championship schedule to be held in the latter half of this year in Kuala lumpur.
This was disclosed by Sarawak Billiards & Snooker Sports Federation (SBSSF) vice chairman Simon Wong here yesterday who added that the state championship would be held in Kuching for the Southern Zone, Sibu for Central Zone and Miri for the Northern Zone.
He explained this was to give more players in the three zones, Northern, Central and Southern, a chance to experience top level competition in the nation.
“Instead of staging the grand final for the winners from the three zones, we decided to send all the top 12 players to Kuala Lumpur for them to gain exposure and experience.”
The central zone championship would be held at Sibu Cueball International Centre, with the date tentatively fixed in early June, Wong said.
Wong said only players from areas like Sarikei, Meradong, Selangau, Mukah, Dalat were eligible for the central zone meet.
“The planning is still in the early stages and we will fix the tournament date for all the three zones once everything is finalised,” he said.
Wong said this was among the proposals adopted by SBSSF during its annual general meeting held recently.
The meeting was chaired by SBSSF’s president John Sikie while others at the meeting included Sibu Division Billiards & Snooker Association president Joe Ting and his deputy Mark Yeo.
Wong said the championship was one of the annual activities of SBSSF, aimed at promoting the sport and lifting the standard of local players.
For the Sibu zone, he said those interested could submit their names to Cueball Centre for registration.
Entry fee is RM30 per person. Those interested should call 012-8809725 for Wong.
Wong said the champion would bring home at least RM1,000 though the final prize structure was yet to be confirmed.