Tanzania still wants to stage the African Snooker Championship in future.Arjun Lavingia, the only local player who is taking part in the continental event since 2010, told the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam on Saturday that the country still ponders to host Africa’s premier championship.
For a year the youngster has spearheaded a campaign for the country to host the event and said the desire is still intact. “The Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC) snooker committee is looking willing to host the tournament,” said Lavingia, who is one of the club’s committee members.
He said the committee has shown interest in staging it, but much depends on the budget which will decide whether it is possible to bring the tournament to Tanzania.
“Much depends on sponsors, if we can attract sponsors and meet all expenses, we’ll bid to host the championship,” he said.
“We have to wait and see. However, I take this as an opportunity to bring top African players to our country.” Lavingia believes staging an African tournament into the country will serve as a turning point and help promote the game countrywide.
He was among 64 top African players who took part at this year’s African championship held at Ramada Plaza Hotel in Tunis, Tunisia early this month.
For the second time the promising Tanzanian player was eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing 3-5 to Hatem Yassin of Egypt.
After the tournament Lavingia was quoted by this paper as saying that it was not easy for him to play without getting the much needed support from people around him.
“You know, most players at the tournament are from Arab countries, so they all support each other. They cheered me only when I lost points, so I lost confidence,” he said.
This means the youngster dreams to play at home soil under support from partisan fans. The good performance in Tunis saw Lavingia go up to fifth in African ranking from the previous six.
The African champion and African Red 6 champion and runners-up will represent the continent in the World Snooker Championship and World Sangsom Red 6 Championship.