Accreditation for cue sportspersons made mandatory

Bangalore, Feb 1 (UNI) The Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) has made accreditation for cue sports players and coaches mandatory.

A policy to this effect was today approved by the Executive Committee of BSFI at its meeting here, Federation President P V K Mohan told newspersons.

The Federation would soon launch its website, providing all information relating to cue sports, including forthcoming events, players profile and results of previous tournaments.

Mohan said the Selection Committee had been revamped and the new Committee would be headed by Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) President Balasubramaniam. The Committee would have four members, including Subash Agarwal, replacing Michael Fereira, Asian Federation Technical Head and Coach Manoj Kothari.

To a question, he said that since the Federation got recognition from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), efforts would be made to get accreditation to all State Associations. ''Activiting all State Associations is a challenge before the Federation and efforts would be made to meet the challenge and work towards progress of cue sports in the country,'' he added.

To another question, he said it had been decided to form a Talent Search Committee under the chairmanship of ace cueist Devinder Joshi to spot young and talented players under 21 years on the lines of the one done in China. ''We want the Committee to search in schools and colleges. There is tremendous response in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.'' Mohan said it was also decided to hold Managing Committee meetings every quarter.

He said the Federation would encourage and fund players, interested in developing skill in any particular field.

UNI