Taina Basiyalo 
Labasa is ready to host their biggest ever snooker tournament – the Labasa Open Snooker Tournament starting this Friday at the Labasa club.
The tournament will feature 32 players, including top seeds from across the country.
Like other tournaments organized by the Association, it will use a pool play format, with the top two players from each group advancing to the knockout stages.
Committee member Arup Kumar says that the high level of interest from players nationwide necessitated limiting the field to 32 participants.
βFor the first time, we are organizing a tournament and all of the player levies given to us will go to the Labasa club to improve the Snooker standard over there. We want the young and upcoming players to go and play the sport.β
He adds that they cannot do a lot for Snooker especially since it is considered a minor sport in the country.
Kumar says timely sponsorships from companies like Crown Taxis and Rentals allows them to organize these big tournaments.
In preparation for this tournament, a $2,000 boost was handed over to the association today.
The tournament starts on Friday and will run for three days at the Labasa club.
