Follow Latvia Immigration and Latvia News: The 2013 International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Amateur Snooker Championship is scheduled to take place from November 27 to December 8 this year in Latvia. This event has been confirmed again after Latvia announced the cancellation of the event earlier this year, with the venue changing from the capital city of Riga to another city, Daugavpils. Our players Zhao Xintong and Zhou Yuelong will compete for the IBSF World Championship title in this event.
Daugavpils is a city located 140 miles northeast of Latvia's capital Riga, with a population of 100,000. It is close to the borders of Lithuania and Belarus, and the IBSF Championship will be held at the local Olympic Center sports venue. Currently, over 242 players from more than 50 countries and regions have confirmed their participation. This year's event, like previous years, is divided into three categories: men's, women's, and masters, with the men's category champion receiving qualification for two seasons of professional tournaments.
The list of participants announced on the IBSF official website includes former professional players from England, Jeff Cundy, who is competing in the Indian Open, former Irish professional players Brandon O'Donoghue and Michael Judge, Pakistani star Muhammad Asif, Polish young player Kacper Filipiak, American national champion in artistic billiards Corey Deuel, and Welsh amateur player Gareth Allen, who has previously reached the main event of the Welsh Open. Our young players Zhao Xintong and Zhou Yuelong will also compete for the IBSF World Championship title to secure professional tournament qualifications.
Historically, many accomplished professional players began their careers by winning this championship title, including "The Whirlwind" Jimmy White (1980), Thailand's veteran player James Wattana (1988), Irish World Champion Ken Doherty (1989), current world number 9 Stuart Bingham (1996), Hong Kong's star player Marco Fu (1997), Scottish player Stephen Maguire (2000), and Northern Ireland's Mark Allen (2004), among others. Last year, the IBSF Championship held in Sofia, Bulgaria was won by Pakistan's Asif, but he did not turn professional. Currently, players in the professional tour such as Aditya Mehta, Jimmy White, Mark Selby, and Dechawat Poomjaeng have all previously won amateur world championship titles.
