Draws of IBSF World Snooker Championship cause confusion

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

While the International Billiards & Snooker Association (IBSF) has notified a strict dress code for the upcoming 2008 World Snooker Championships but they seem to have a missed a trick or two while compiling the draws of the men’s event.

The officials of the Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA) were perplexed at receiving a copy of the draws in which the participating 104 cueists from 52 countries have been divided equally in 13 groups in World Men Snooker Championship being staged in Wels, Austria, from October 27 to November 5.

“The draws don’t indicate how many cueists from each group will be qualifying for the knockout stage of the annual event. It has been a practice over the years to let four cueists from every group move ahead to the next phase. The total number of cueists in the knockout stage must be divisible by eight,” the PBSA official explained.

“In the draws having reached us there are 13 groups having eight cueists each. We won’t get a figure divisible by eight if equal number of cueists are to progress to the next round from each group,” he wondered.

“Another confusion in the draws, not having any footnotes, is the title of groups. We have 13 groups starting from A to N with the exception of I. We are not sure how have these lapses occurred in the compilation of the draws of such an important tournament on the IBSF calendar,” he added.

The PBSA, meanwhile, has approached the IBSF to seek clarification on the draws of the World Championship in which Pakistan will be represented by the country’s top two cueists, Saleh Mohammad and Khurram Hussain Agha.

Interesting the IBSF has issued a strong directive to the participating countries as far as the dress code for the World Championship is concerned.
“Please advise your players that the dress code will be strictly adhered to. All players must wear a waistcoat whilst playing. This includes lady players. Lady players must wear a blouse that is worn in or over the pants. No short shirts or blouses are accepted,” the IBSF handout said.

“Evening dress or dark-suit together with waist-coat shall be worn in all sessions of the matches. Long-sleeve shirts buttoned at the wrist, waistcoats and bow-ties, shall be worn for all matches, save when the venue conditions are hot and humid, and, in which case, certain relaxation to dress-code requirements may be decided thereupon by the Championship Committee.”

“Players will be allowed to wear a sponsor’s logo on the waistcoat with a maximum size of 100 mm x 40 mm or 80 mm in diameter. The Host Association will inform players if their logos may be worn during any televised stages of the Championship and that players wear them belonging to the Host Association sponsor(s) at no cost to the players. The Host Association will also decide the appropriate dress code for any official functions.”

The IBSF has warned that the failure to comply with the prescribed dress code may result in the forfeiture of the match by the players in default.