English summer at Khar Gym

This is the biggest tournament in terms of the whopping total prize money and also the number of players having taken part in the competition. The winner will receive a staggering Rs 5 lakh,while the runner-up will receive Rs 2.5 lakh.

For the first time in India,the qualifying rounds were played at four centres,Chennai,New Delhi,Kolkata and Pune. Four players from each of these centres qualified for the main event in a gruelling route to join the elite.

The qualifiers from Chennai were winner Faisal Khan,runner-up Laxman Rawat and losing semi-finalists Balaji Reddy and Shivam Arora. Rafath Habib emerged winner from the Delhi qualifiers and he will be joined in the main event by Sandip Gulati (runner-up) and losing semi-finalists Dharminder Lilly and Sumit Talwar.

The Kolkata leg was won by Saurav Kothari who beat Neeraj Kumar and the others to qualify from there are Aayush Kumar and Shahbaaz Khan. Kamal Chawla was numero uno in the Pune leg after defeating Himanshu Jain in the final,and joining them are Shoaib Khan and Siddharth Parekh.

More than 128 players have already received prize money in the qualifiers,which has never happened in India.

Stephen Lee

Born on October 12,1974,Lee is a professional snooker player from Trowbridge,Wiltshire in England,whose smooth cue action is regarded by some pundits as the most natural in the game. He entered the Top 16 during the 1997/1998 snooker season. He won four ranking titles between 1998 and 2006. However,his form declined dramatically in 2006 and as a result he dropped out of the Top 16 after the 2007/2008 snooker season. He returned to the Top 16 during the 2011/2012 season. Lee has compiled 160 competitive century breaks during his career.

Michael Holt

Born August 7,1978,Holt is a professional snooker player from Nottingham,England. As of 2009,he reached the quarter finals of five ranking tournaments – the 1999 UK Championship,the 2003 LG Cup,the 2005 Grand Prix,the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 –Finals and the 2013 German Masters.

The 2012/13 season started well by qualifying for the Wuxi Classic and the Australian Open and is certain to move into a top 32 place in the World Rankings. He will be one of the favourites for the title here.

Nigel Bond

Born on November 15,1965 in Darley Dale,Derbyshire,Bond is an English professional snooker player. He was ranked within the top 16 from 1992 to 1999. After a season outside the top 32,he regained his place there. At 43 years old,he was the second-oldest player (behind Steve Davis) in the 2008/2009 rankings top 32. He is a former British Open champion,and World Championship finalist. In 2009 he won the World Games title. He is noted as one of the best users of the swan neck rest.