Aafreen Rachael Vaz, the reigning Femina Miss India Supranational, and Bollywood actor Rahul Roy of Aashiqui fame, set the balls rolling in the Videocon 2nd Billiards Premier League (BPL) 2015 at the NSCI Billiards Hall on Wednesday evening. Videocon Director, Ketan Khanna and the billiards players from the eight participating teams were present on the occasion.
Aafreen Rachael Vaz attempts a red pot to mark the opening of the 2nd Videocon BPL 2015 at the NSCI Billiards hall on Wednesday. Others seen in the picture are J.S. Dawer (left), billiards convener NSCI, BSAM Vice-President, Derek Sippy (right) and Rishabh Thakkar.
Maharashtra’s leading billiards pros, including recently crowned Asian Billiards Champion, Dhruv Sitwala, Ashok Shandilaya, Devandra Joshi and Nalin Patel to name a few, and representing different teams, will be seen in action during the nine-day competition.
The tall model Aafreen, who was born in Auckland, New Zealand, said that she was glad to be associated with the BPL. “Playing any sport is a skill and billiards is a brilliant game and it’s a lot of fun. The BPL requires a great team effort and the initiative taken to organise this event is great and I was so happy to be associated with this league and I had a great time,” she said after attempting to play a canon.
“There is so much of brotherhood and bonding in this billiards fraternity and if the keep can keep up that spirit they are more likely to attract more people and also get the media attention,” she said before cross over the baulk line.
After the tournament was opened the teams got down to action in the first round of league matches, which are being played on a best-of-five frames (100 up) format.