Asian Snooker Tour from next year

In a bid to boost cue sports in Asia, the International Billiards and Snooker Federation has introduced the Asian Snooker Tour, which will host three events from 2018 onwards.

India will be co-hosts along with Qatar and China for the events that will employ a new 10-Red format and will be looking to hand Asian players the necessary exposure to compete on the world stage.

While the specifics of the events have not been finalised, it is expected to comprise a team snooker championship, a ladies snooker championship and billiards championship in the time and points format. What will make it even more attractive to the players is the expected total windfall of USD 40,000.

Expressing his delight at the move, the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) President Capt PVK Mohan said: "It is great that we have been given the opportunity to host Asian Snooker Tour events. This will be a good opportunity for our players to gain a wealth of experience that will in-turn help them perform better when they participate at a global level. The exposure will be immense."

The BSFI has also successfully bid for the Asian 6 Red and Team Snooker Championship which will be held in Chandigarh later this year. Apart from that, the body has also made a bid to host the IBSF World Billiards and the Snooker Championships.

"We will know about our bid (World Championship) in a couple of months as the IBSF is still considering their options. We know that they have also received a bid from Jordan," revealed Mohan.

With a viewership of almost 50 million, the 2017 Indian Open was a massive success for the BSFI and the chief divulged that State governments were competing to host the next edition and that venues had more or less been decided till 2020.

"Various state governments have been coming to us and offering to host the Indian Open. The location for the 2018 event is yet to be decided but it will either be in Cochin or Chennai. It will then move to Gujarat in 2019 and Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) in 2020."