The top guns, including Siddharth Parikh, Devendra Joshi and Rohan Jambusaria will be seen in action representing their respective teams in the CCI Kekoo Nicholson BSAM Billiards League 2019, which is scheduled to commence from Monday, April 29 to Sunday, May 26, 2019. A total of 29 teams will be fighting it out for the top honours in this competition which will be played on a league-cum-knockout basis.
India’s fifth ranked Parikh is the captain of P.J. Hindu Gymkhana ‘Probables’, sixth ranked Joshi will captain Matunga Gymkhana’s MG ‘Night Kings’ and India number seven Jambusaria is named as skipper of Mandpeshwar Civic Foundation’s MCF ‘Tough Men’.
The teams have been divided into eight sections and the teams will play on a home and away basis during the initial phase of the league, which will conclude with the third week ending May 18. Two teams from each section will qualify for the knockout phase starting from the pre-quarter-finals. The semi-finals will be played on Saturday, May 25 and the league will culminate with the grand finale to be played Sunday, May 26 in celebration of the birth anniversary of Late Kekoo Nicholson.
The winners and runners-up will stand to pocket a cash award of ₹60,000 and ₹ 30,000 respectively. The losing semi-finalists will receive ₹ 15,000 each and the losing quarter-finalists will get ₹ 7500 each.