The Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC) has organised the Bong 5 Snooker tournament set to start early next week. The week-long tournament will bring together top DGC players who will battle it out for top honours.
Snooker secretary Fatema Yusufali told the ‘Daily News’ in the city that preparations to host the event sponsored by Bong 5 of Dar es Salaam are in final touches.
She said that players will be divided into two groups — Division A for those who play at high level and B. “We are grateful to Bongo 5 as this is not the first time they are sponsoring our events,” Yusufali said.
She appealed to members to come up in big numbers to take part in the tournament and make it a success. Favourite Division A player Kalpesh Lavingia, who was crowned champion of the Special Snooker tournament at the club last month, is among the top contenders.
Lavingia and Akil Akberali — two players who were last year’s double champions in the monthly mug snooker tournaments — will be looking for more success this year.
January Monthly Mug champion Suman Mandalia and Nikhil Sangani, who finished second in the last two events are also keen to disappoint their challengers.
Other title contenders in Division A are Munish Khattar, Ramesh Lathigra, John Rimmer and veteran Raju Kanabar, who has not won any tournament for the second year. In Division B, the battle seems to be even harder as most of the players are in good form.
They include last month’s special tournament winner Ali Zoeb, Abbas Yusufali and snooker captain Firoz Yusufali.
Others are Tanzania Golf Union (TGU) vice-chairman Joseph Tango, Rupesh Soni, Hozefa Hassan and Tanzania Hockey Association (THA) chairman Abraham Sykes, who finished second behind Zoeb last month.
By MBONILE BURTON, Tanzania Daily News