Cue sports has produced more world champions from India than any other sport in India including Pankaj Advani, Geet Sethi, and Michael Ferreira.
And to make the game even more popular SportzLive and Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) have collaborated to start a first-of-its-kind league called, Cue Slam, featuring top names and the most promising talents from the world of cue sports.
The Cue Slam – the latest entrant to the growing league sport format, has already generated a lot of buzz.
Eight teams from different cities will participate in the inaugural season.Each team will feature five players each- one international star, one Indian Icon, a female player, a junior and a celebrity player, who will compete in this six-week long tournament. All the eight teams will compete with each other on home and away basis during the competition this summer to win the CUE SLAM title. Each match-up will feature Five games ranging from Billiards (race to 50 points) and Snooker (Six-Red format) to 9-Ball (Pool).
In an attempt to make the league more popular some new concepts are being tried like a 15-second shot clock. Players with hot microphones to allow “soft sledging” and even the crowd and fans will be allowed to cheer, hoot or distract the opposition player (within defined and permissible limits). CUE SLAM will be organised in the big Malls and Clubs of the chosen cities to give a fresh look and feel to the contest, while allowing more fan engagement.
The inaugural season of CUE SLAM, with the prize money of 2 Crore Rupees, was conclude in the capital city of Delhi in the summer of 2015.
A promotional event to popularize cue sports was recently held in Gurgaon on 25th June Atul Pande, s an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad (1987-89 batch), with a varied industry experience spanning more than 25 years, told us he is planning a similar franchise based league in Volleyball as well.
We wish best of luck to Sportzlive and their hard working team for their future endeavors.