Great start for Chinese 8 Ball event
KWAZULU-NATAL Cue Sport hosted its first Chinese 8 Ball Provincial Championship competition at the weekend with the event proving to be an outstanding success.
Taking place at Gateway shopping centre, the biggest local names in the sport were on hand to showcase their skills and class.
For those not familiar with this internationally-growing sporting code, Chinese 8 Ball is a two-player game that combines the play of eightball with the shooting style of carom billiards games and is thus a poolcarom hybrid game, much like English billiards. It is fast becoming a national sport in China.
The overall male and female winners were Jeremiah Green Naidoo and Rivashni Naidoo respectively.
The former comes from Isipingo and it was his female counterpart’s first experience on that type of table.
Both topped the charts, are ranked number one in the province and have now attained their provincial colours.
The vice-president of KZNCS and managing director of the South African Confederation of Cue Sport (SACCS), Apsra Panchoo, a multiple gold medallist herself, shared her thoughts on the event and this new sporting phenomenon that has taken the local community by storm.
“We are very proud of our local achievers in this tough sport and congratulations to the winners.
“We also had a sponsored event, the Joy Billiards competition, in which Jason Theron won a car. he is also off to compete on the Chinese professional circuit. The sport is growing and we even have the snooker interprovincial tournament coming up soon, as well as black ball events.”
The two winners, as well as a few other high achievers who have also attained colours, will represent KZN Cue Sport in the R100K SACCS National Chinese 8 Ball Championships at Gracelands Casino in Secunda in December.
KZN Cue Sport is the only accredited and properly affiliated body that controls all WCBS (World Confederation of Billiards Sports) and IOC (International Olympic Committee) approved codes of Cue Sport.