AHMEDABAD: The Cue Slam — Indian Cue Masters League is poised to return in a two season format from next year, riding on a successful inaugural edition that culminated in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The next edition of the Cue Slam will likely be held in March 2018 and will see the participation of more teams, according to Atul Pande, whose company Sportzlive is the brain behind the venture.
“The league format has worked for us and more parties have expressed interest in acquiring even more teams,” Pande said on the sidelines of the finale between the Gujarat Kings and the Delhi Dons held here.
The Gujarat Kings cruised to a victory over the Delhi Dons 3-0 in front of a packed crowd to pocket the trophy and the winners’ prize purse of Rs2 million. The first edition was a five-team affair with franchises from leading Indian cities competing for honours – Delhi Dons, Chennai Sharks, Gujarat Kings, Bengaluru Buddies and Hyderabad Hustlers.
Cue Slam, a global professional league that incorporates pool and snooker in a new crisper format, has tickled the imagination of fans and players alike in its first edition. Pande estimates that there are two to two and a half million people in India who play either pool, billiards or snooker and the Cue Slam has helped in “bringing the sport to the country in a viewer friendly scenario”.
The event was played in a round robin-cum-knockout format. Each tie comprised five matches with three 6-Red snooker and two 9-Ball pool matches per tie. Each franchise had five players (1 icon, 1 woman and 3 men players) with a stipulation that a minimum of three Indians have to be included per team.
India owns 30 world titles in the sport including current world title holder Pankaj Advani, who was also a part of the Cue Slam.
