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Billiard Sports Association of Thailand
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| 2008 SangSom 6-red Snooker International |
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| Bangkok, July 1 – World No. 4 Mark Selby of England, the top-ranked contender for the inaugural SangSom 6-red Snooker International, was on Tuesday handed the toughest draw, but the Lady Luck smiled on Thai ace Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm. |
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The tournament, which offers a total of more than 1.8 million baht in prize monies with the winner pocketing 500,000 baht, takes place on July 8-13 at the Montien Riverside Hotel.
At a crowded draw for the event at the Montien Riverside Hotel, Selby, winner of two world professional events in the 2007-2008 season, found himself in Group A, which has the likes of talented Thai Issara Kachaiwong and former professional star and world No. 2 Jimmy White.
The others players in the group are English professional Martin Gould (No. 63), 2008 Asian Championship runner-up Aditya Mehta of India and Brendan O’Donoghue of the Republic of Ireland, none of whom can be taken for granted.
Ratchapol was drawn in Group D for the event, where his toughest challenge should come from fourth seed Joe Swail (No. 20) of Northern Ireland and talented English professional Tom Ford (No. 48).
Former world masters champion Dene O’Kane of New Zealand, Habib Subah of Bahrain and Marvin Lim of Singapore are the other players in the group.
The local snooker fans will also be entertained two former world professional champions Peter Ebdon of England, currently ranked No. 8, and Republic of Ireland’s Ken Doherty (No. 18) during the course of the tournament.
Ebdon is in Group B with the reigning Thai 6-red snooker champion Thepchaiya Un-nooh, while Doherty is in Group C with Thai professional and former Asian champion Supoj Saenla.
Players in Group G, headed by world No. 26 Stephen Lee of England, may also find the going tough. The group comprises strong players like No. 35 Ricky Walden of England, No. 71 Matthew Selt of England, 2007 Asian Indoor Games gold medallist Mohammed Mustafa Shehab of the United Arab Emirates and 2006 IBSF World Championship semifinalist Manan Chandra of India.
At the end of the first round action on July 10 night, top four players from each of the eight groups will qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.
TrueVision will be beaming one key match live every night starting at 8 pm on its TrueSport 3 channel and will then combined with NBT (Channel 11) to telecast the final live on July 13 at 3 pm.
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