Govt to bear costs of cue sport squad

After weeks of speculation and suspense, the 16-member Indian cue sport squad, including 13 players, will participate in the Asian Indoor Games at Incheon, Korea, at government cost, according to a press release from the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI).

Earlier, there was considerable heartburn among the players in the wake of speculation that the squad will not be representing India at the Games to be held from June 29 to July 6 in view of the imbroglio involving Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and its parent body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Apparently, the issue has been sorted out and much to the relief of the players, their trip to Korea will be funded by the union government.

The squad that was selected after rigorous trials here recently, comprises Aditya Mehta, Alok Kumar, Sundeep Gulati, Balachandra Bhaskar, Sourav Kothari, Shahbaaz Adil Khan, Brijesh Damani, Divya Sharma, Kamal Chawla, Chitra Magimairaj, Neena Praveen, Indira Gowda and Keerath Bhandaal.

Bholu Mehta (manager) along with coaches Manoj Kothari and K. Ranjan will accompany the squad that is likely to depart June 27, the BSFI release added.