The idea was right,the setting was not. The Delhi Snooker and Billiards Association in its push to popularise the sport and find new talents held the first ever P Upendra Memorial North Zone Schools Snooker tournament at City Centre Mall,Rohini from June 28 to July 4. For the record,Delhis Lakshman Rawat walked away with the title on Sunday beating Lalit Dahiya. But for the shoppers and the players alike,the sight of a snooker table placed in the lobby,made for a casual setting rather than serious competition. The atmosphere in the mall is not appropriate for playing. You get distracted with people moving around. But as players we have to adjust according to the venue, Dahiya told Sportline. Having said that this is all done for the promotion of the game and I am happy that people came to see us playing, he added. A combination of problems forced the DSBA to organise the tournament in this mall. The associations practice centre in Malviya Nagar,where many tournaments had been organised in the past,was sealed in 2008. And the expenses regarding renting a venue,was way above the associations pockets. Hence the Mall was zeroed in on. MCD sealed our premises in 2008,saying we were misusing the property for commercial purpose and this happened when a state championship was on. The matter is in courts, said Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) official Ravi K Tandon. Then we got in touch with the mall owners,who were happy to accommodate. The mall has been recently constructed,so it also became a good advertising tactic for them along with the snooker tournament, added Tandon. Games like bowling,cue sports etc are a major draw at malls so we agreed to the DSBA proposal. Besides people need other modes of entertainment, said Piyush Aggarwal,manager,City Centre Mall. But there were takers for this unique venture,mostly shoppers,who took time out to know the game. I have never seen something like this happening in the lobby of a mall before. But I like this concept as we get to know snooker in detail, said Sushil Kumar.
