Bhubaneswar: To promote and popularise the game of billiards and snooker, the Vintage Club in the city has set up a brand new table which has been brought from New Delhi.
Disclosing this at a press conference at the club premises here Wednesday, officials stated that the cost of getting the table was approximately Rs 3,00,000. The club have also hired a mechanic from Bangalore to set up the table.
Speaking on the occasion, chief coordinator of Cue Sports Association, Govind Sharma said that the new table will facilitate the training of the players before various national-level tournaments. “Look we already have acquired a couple of tables pertaining to national standards. But this variety of table is used in the national events and it will be big help for the state players,” said Govind.
The club is now conducting the VIIth MIET All Orissa Open Snooker Championships which started October 29. One hundred and eight players are participating in the meet which is a record entry. In the last edition of the event there were 63 participants.
The winner of the tournament will get Rs 25,000 while the runner-up will bag Rs 13,000. The semifinalists will get Rs 6,000 each while the quarterfinalists will be richer by Rs 4,000 each.
In the absence of Ashutosh Padhy, who is missing the tournament due to some personal reasons, Dr Rakesh Roshan Pradhan has been given the top billing in the tournament.