MUSCAT, Nov 24 - Oman Billiards and Snooker Committee (OBSC) is set to organise the competitions of the GCC Billiards and Snooker Championship in Muscat from November 28 to December 8.
Khalid al Subhi, Chairman of OBSC, affirmed the readiness of the organising committee to begin the regional tournament, during a press conference on Sunday. “The decision of hosting this prestigious event was taken in 2018 when the executive meeting of the GCC Billiards and Snooker was held in Muscat.
The idea was to organise the championship during end of last year. We preferred to push the hosting the tournament to this year with better preparations and coordination with all sponsors and government-related entities,” Al Subhi said.
More than 80 players will take part in the tournament. Each team will have 10 players as all the GCC countries will participate in the championship. Oman will have the advantage of fielding two teams and 20 players as it is the host country. “We have established six sub-committees besides the main organising committee including national teams committee, media committee, umpire committee, administration committee, marketing committee and technical committee. Each committee has different responsibilities and the recommendations will be raised to the main organising committee for the final decision,” the OBSC chief said.
“Our aim is to have a successful edition of the GCC Billiards and Snooker Championship and it should be a remarkable tournament for everyone.
“We gave chance to all the sports lovers to participate in preparations of this event. The logo of the championship was designed by a former player. All the technical and logistical activities have been done by the players and sports enthusiasts,” Al Subhi added.
The chairman of OBSC appreciated the support from the Ministry of Sports Affairs along with the government and private sector companies. “A dedicated thanks to all the sponsors including Levatio hotel and Sohar International for their valuable support,” Al Subhi concluded.
FINAL PREPARATION
The Sultanate team players are involved in final preparation ahead of the tournament. All the training sessions are held under watchful eyes of coach Frank at the Billiards and Snooker hall in Levatio hotel.
Oman coach Frank Gumbrell expressed his confidence on the national players to deliver top performance during the competitions. “Omar al Busaidi, Abdullah al Raisi and Qasim al Balushi are all in good form. I am confident the players will perform well,” Frank said.
“An intensive domestic camp is underway for the national team players until the beginning of the championship. The local camp began with less days for training and increased as the tournament gets closer. The players reached to better level in terms of their preparations and I am confident of claiming the top positions,” the coach from United Kingdom said.
Twelve umpires will officiate the tournament competitions including four referees from Oman and eight from Bahrain. Joseph from Honk Kong, a representative of the Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation, attended the press conference and highlighted that the four Oman umpires had a comprehensive referee course before the tournament. “During the workshop, all the local umpires learned different technical refereeing aspects. In the last day of the course, there was an examination for the participants. The umpires who will pass the exams will receive the Asian level licence,” Joseph added.
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