Kekoo Nicholson BSAM Billiards from Monday
Keen to keep alive the memory and to pay homage to their late President, Kekoo Nicholson, the Cricket club of India (CCI) has decided to sponsor and host the BSAM Billiards League, for a period of three years, starting with the forthcoming edition, which is scheduled to commence on Monday.
The BSAM readily accepted CCI’s proposal and has decided to give their annual league a new title, which would be known as the ‘CCI Kekoo Nicholson BSAM Billiards League 2018’.
Nicholson, who passed away late last February, was an avid sports enthusiast and a great supporter of billiards and snooker for over two decades.
A player himself, Nicholson competed in various tournaments and also represented the CCI teams in the billiards and snooker leagues and also provided a helping hand to cue sports by sponsoring many tournaments under his company’s banner of Selvel.
A total of 28 teams will be participating in this year’s Billiards league, with the first week of matches scheduled to start from Monday, April 2. Reigning champions Bengal will have to contend with fivetime winners Kerala in their quest for yet another national football title as the two heavyweights clash in the final of the Santosh Trophy at the Saltlake Stadium, here on Sunday.
The 32-time champions Bengal, who ousted Karnataka in a nervy semi-final, will also look to avenge their group stage defeat against Kerala.
Bengal veteran duo of Jiten Murmu and Tirthankar Sarkar scored against Karnataka to set up a meeting has only conceded two goals so far in the tournament, while they relied heavily on quality of Jiten Murmu at the other end.
“There is absolutely no pressure on the team. The team has confidence in it’s ability to win the final against Kerala,” Chowdhury said.
Speaking about the opponents he said, “Kerala is a very strong and organised team. They are very strong defensively and got many talented players. Whoever wins on Sunday needs to earn the trophy by playing well.”
Nearly half of the Bengal squad members are playing their first Santosh Trophy, any defense on their day.
“I am very happy with the progress of my team, which has shown great improvement match after match. We have a great deal of respect for Bengal but I know my players are capable of winning the title,” coach Satheevan Balan said.
For many a fan, Kerala is the favourite to win the ultimate at the ten-team tournament, but Satheevan Balan insisted Bengal have an equal chance of being crowned champions. “We are not favourites. Since we arrived here, we take every game as a final and against Bengal will be same. We will put in our best to make sure we win. We have an idea of the Bengal team having played them earlier in the tournament but we are talking of the final and surely it will be different,” he said.