Eswatini eye Blackball World Cup 2022
MBABANE – The earliest international task to mark the return of Eswatini pool to the Blackball world is next February in Zambia – the AAPA Blackball Championships.
After over a decade without international participation due to power struggles, pool players and aspiring stars can dream big again as the international stage beckons as of next year.
It is not just the AAPA (All Africa Pool Association) Championships they can just think about but the World Cup in as well – it is taking place next year, just like the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar. France is hosting the Blackball International World Championships 2022 from October 8 to October 15.
Eswatini Cue Sport Association (ECSA) has already been alerted of the two international events and preparations towards participation are already underway.
The association had scheduled national play-offs for this month-end until the first weekend of October. The play-offs will produce the various national squads being under-23s, senior men and women’s teams.
“We’re yet to get the qualifying criteria for the France World Cup but yes, we’ve been made aware and are looking forward to it. First of all we want to be represented in Zambia where the Africa Championships take place next year and we must do well there,” ECSA President Muntu Dlamini said while also saying the national play-offs would resume perhaps next weekend as they were busy with logistics.
Qualifiers
He explained that it was possible that the AAPA Blackball Championships were also used as qualifiers for the world tournament. Meanwhile, Blackball International has also officially announced the World Championships host will be France in the city of Albi.
“France will be great hosts for the Blackball International main event and have put a lot of time into the planning of this event already. Blackball International looks forward to working with France in the coming year on delivering a world class event,” reads an excerpt from the Blackball International President Mark Cottingham.