Lal surprises officials
FORMER Fiji snooker champion Suman Lal made a last-minute surprise appearance to help the New Zealand Fiji Snooker Association team to a 10-9 victory against the North West Billiards and Snooker Association team at the Lautoka Club on Thursday evening.
Lal arrived in the country at the right moment, as the initial 18 match competition ended in a tie 9-all.
With trophies and prizemoney at stake, the organisers agreed to have a doubles playoffs between the two top players of the NZFSA and the NWBSA to decide the winner.
Lal teamed up with Kunwardeep Singh for the visitors while Nitesh Chand and David Reddy paired up for the hosts.
The visitors showed their class winning 2-0.
NZFSA president Vimal Kumar said they were happy to start their short tour with a victory. Vimal said the trip was just not about playing competitive snooker but also to rekindle friendship and give back to the community in terms of equipment and coaching and refereeing knowledge.
“This association was formed about five years ago,” he said.
“This year I thought it was the right time to come back to Fiji to contribute towards the sport. We have given the NWBSA accessories and will do the same for the national body. There are plans to donate two professional standard snooker tables here in Fiji. We wish to invite a team from Fiji to New Zealand. There is a lot of talent in Fiji but what they lack is financial resource.
“Snooker is an expensive game so we will try our best to help the players in Fiji.”
Vimal is from Ba and attended Malaqere Primary School and Khalsa College. He represented Ba Central Club and Tavua Club in the NWBSA competitions before moving to New Zealand in 1999.
Vimal won the New Zealand Doubles Championship with former Fiji champion Sanjay Kumar in 2008 and has a highest break of 91.
Results: Singles: David Reddy (NWBSA) bt Raj Singh (NZFSA), Mahen Deo
(NWBSA) bt Moinesh Samy (NZFSA), Kunwardeep Singh (NZFSA) bt Ronald Singh (NWBSA), Vinesh Prasad (NWBSA) bt Vimal (NZFSA), Sanjay Kumar bt Simon Reddy (NWBSA); Shalvin (NWBSA) bt Yeshni Kant (NZFSA), Vinesh Prasad (NZFSA) bt Ravi Narayan (NWSBA); Eroni Rateri (NZFSA) bt Aman Khan (NWBSA), Vikrant Sharma (NWBSA) bt Sudeep Prasad (NZFSA), Vineel Nand (NWBSA) bt Vinny Gounder (NZFSA), Suresh Chauhan (NWBSA) bt Mukesh Chand (NZFSA), Ron Lal (NZFSA) bt Shalen Raju (NWBSA). Doubles:
Sanjay Kumar/Vimal Narayan (NZSA) bt David Reddy/ Naushad Khan (NWBSA), Kunwardeep Singh /Moinesh Samy (NZFA) bt Mahend Deo/Rimal Narayan (NWBSA), Nitesh Chand/Shalen Gounder (NWBSA) bt Vinesh Prasad/ Yeshni Kant (NZFSA), Anant Raj/Ronald Singh (NWBSA) bt Sudeep Prasad/Raj, Ron Lal/Eroni Rateri (NWFSA) bt Vinesh Prasad/Simon Reddy (NWBSA), Mukesh Chand/Vinny Gounder (NZFSA) bt Roneel Samy/Alzumar Khan (NWBSA), Suman Lal/ Kunwardeep Singh Kunwardeep Singh (NZFSA) bt Nitesh Chand/David Reddy (NWBSA).