SNOOKER
Selby, Ebdon, White among those in action
HANIF HASSAN
The Snooker Association of Thailand's officials led by Sindhu Poolsirivongse are joined by top players at the press conference at the Montien Riverside Hotel yesterday. |
The leading professional stars were all oozing with confidence on the eve of the SangSom 6-red Snooker International, but when the action starts on Tuesday morning the lesser known players could well be the ones stealing the limelight at the Montien Riverside Hotel.
The field for the tournament, which gets underway at 10 am, is studded with big names like world No. 4 Mark Selby, former world professional champions Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty, the people's champion Jimmy White and Thailand's own maestro Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm.
However, given the nature of the game, there are is an army of unranked contenders who are all capable of springing surprises during the course of the inaugural event, which offers more than 1.8 million baht in prize monies with 500,000 baht going to the winner.
Selby, winner of two world professional events last season, should enter the fray as the pre-tournament favourite, with Ebdon and Doherty being the other two outright title favourites.
There are players like Joe Swail, Stuart Bingham, Nigel Bond, Dave Harold, Michael Holt and Ricky Walden, though ranked a rung or two lower on the list, should be taken as title contenders.
Ratchapol, winner of three world professional ranking titles, plays two matches on the opening day, first facing Habib Subah of Bahrain at 12:30 pm and then taking on the fourth seed and world No. 20 Joe Swail at 8 pm.
The enticing battle between Ratchapol and Swail will be beamed live by TrueVisions on its TrueSport 3 channel.
As for the other Thai players, Thepchaiya Un-nooh is the player in form, winning the national 6-red snooker crown only a couple of weeks ago.
Also in the running are Supoj Saenla, a Main Tour professional, reigning Thailand No. 1 Issara Kachaiwong and Atthasit Mahitthi, winner of the 2007 IBSF World Championship.
A total of 40 matches will be played on the opening day with the first session starting at 10 am. Entrance is free.
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