The Fiji Billiards and Snooker Association is calling on the Government to be more active in its assistance.

This was the message from FBSA president Bhatti Riffat while highlighting issues facing the organisation. Bhatti strongly urged Government to simply provide the building blocks for development and they would take the rest from there.

“No sport is a minor sport. Only the thinking of people makes it a minor,” Riffat said. All sports are major sport so all sports should be treated equally. Just look at the assistant Minister for Youth and Sports Iliesa Delana.

“He was a competitor in what was seen largely as a minor sport but then he won gold at the 2012 Paralympic Games and became a national hero and then a Government minister. This is just an example of the accomplishments in respective sports and a reason to treat all sport as equal.

“Just give us the help we need and we’ll show you that we’re a major sport that deserves as much assistance and attention as other sports.”

Riffat called on the Ministry of Youth and Sports to step up with development programmes.

“We don’t have any proper facilities of our own at the moment. But we’re really hoping for the Ministry of Youth and Sports to assist us with our efforts to establish our own facility. This would definitely boost our work to progress our sport.

“We’re targeting grassroots development and so far Vunimono High School in Nausori has applied for a table and lessons so once we receive confirmation from the ministry, the table will be installed.”

Meanwhile, scaffolding firm Formscaff handed over a $1200 sponsorship to the Southern Division Billiards and Snooker Association (SDBSA) for this weekend’s championship.

Formscaff marketing executive Rakesh Narayan said they wanted to support the development of upcoming talents in the sport.

“We have seen this development happening for a long time and the SDBSA executives use to come over and talk to us regarding these sponsorships. So this year we decided to sponsor this tournament for the sake of the development of players.”

The SDBSA will take place at the Merchant Club in Suva this Saturday.

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