The Snooker and Pool Players Alliance (SPPA) has concluded the draws for the 2023 Joy Heyball Masters Tour Qualifier at the Nicon Town Recreational Center, Lekki .
Gatekeepers News reports that the draws which was conducted by the President of the alliance in the presence of some members of the cue sports community in Lagos saw players who registered for the tournament drawn in two main groups as the battle to produce Nigerian Champion and the sole representative of the country at the Joy Heyball Masters Tour in Lanzhou, China begins on Tuesday 6th of June ,2023.
Former Snooker Champion in Nigeria Wale Osomo and SPPA top player Abiodun Christopher are some of the players to watch out for in this tournament which is a launch pad for Nigeria’s cue sports talent which abound in every part of the country.
SPPA was allocated 1 slot and will be participating in the 2023 Joy Heyball Masters Div One Tour in Lanzhou, China, a tournament offering a mouthwatering first prize of RMB 300,000 Yuan which is equivalent to N19 million as first prize.
Also, the 2nd to 112th position will receive various cash reward as well as Trophies, Certificate and Grade point which will shore up their position in global ranking in Heyball.
The plan to see a Nigerian play in a big tournament like this has been in the works for a while as SPPA entered into a partnership with Joy Billiards Sports Promotion Company, China and FIJI Ventures Limited to birth this exciting times witnessed by the Cue sport community.
With the successful hosting of the Qualifier ,a player from Nigeria will for the first time have the opportunity to participate in the Joy Heyball Masters’ Tour which a fulfillment of one of the cardinal vision and objective of the SPPA which is to create a viable link between the local Nigeria Pool and Snooker community and prominent international sport bodies thereby offering opportunity to professionalise the sports in Nigeria.
Amongst the other local Heyball events that is organised by the Alliance are The Top 4 Heyball Series, the challenge Series, The Joy Heyball Open Tournament, Independence Day Tournament.
SPPA President Idada Joachim noted that despite the many challenges witnessed so far, the alliance has recorded many successes.
“In 2022, the Alliance facilitated and supported Christopher Abiodun travel to Dubai to participate in The Dubai Chinese Eight Ball (Heyball) Open Tournament and in the same year, facilitated his travel to Singapore to participate in the Singapore Open Snooker” He said.
After an intensive round robin format as decided by the alliance the final between the last two standing players will hold on Saturday 10th of June ,2023 at the Nicon Town Recreation Center Lekki, Lagos.
