History is going to be made this year as the United States Snooker Association (USSA), the governing body of the sport of snooker in the United States, will be contracting the services of Point Of View Pool Media (POV Pool) for the very first time to live stream the United States National Snooker Championship, which will take place at the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California, from May 25-‐27.
The live stream will be accessible on the POV Pool Website www.povpool.com for free by all on May 26 & 27 from 12:00pm PDT in the United States (3:00pm EDT / 7:00pm GMT), and is expected to feature action from the round of 16 onwards.
The Championship is open to all citizens and legal permanent residents of the United States, and has attracted entries from all over the country which will include the three-‐time successive champion Ahmed Aly from New York who will be there to defend his title, in addition to Illinois' five-‐time champion Tom Kollins, and California's former champions Ajeya Prabhakar and Jack Kung.
Winner's on the 2011-‐12 USSA Tour who will also prove to be serious title contenders are New York's Raymond Fung and Arizona's Romil Azemat, who are both former Championship runners-‐up, plus California's Sargon Isaac who will be taking part in his first Championship.
To further promote the sport of snooker in the United States the USSA hopes to attract both national and international viewers through the service of the POV Pool Media ‘Live Stream' of the final two days of the Championship. Embassy Billiard Club owner's Paul and Benny Yiu are also to be congratulated for going to great lengths to prepare for this event. Not only have they insured that all 12 of their exquisite, full-‐size Riley's Snooker tables are newly covered and tuned, they have also gone a step further to upgrade the Internet bandwidth to insure an uninterrupted stream and higher quality picture.
Alan Morris, the Executive Director of the USSA is delighted to be working with POV Pool, and he said: “This is truly a huge step forward for snooker in the United States as we invite all snooker fans in the United States and around the world to watch our National Championship live for the first time, which we hope will raise more awareness about the sport in the United States.
“I would like to thank both Daniel Busch, the owner of POV Pool Media, and the Embassy Billiards Club for all their time and cooperation in making this all possible.”
In an additional effort put forth to cover the Championship, Daniel Busch has made a commitment to arrive on the first day's play in order to create a ‘live feed' of information which can be accessed on the SnookerUSA.com website and POV Pool Facebook pages.
When asked about the details of the ‘live feed', POV Pool's Daniel Busch stated: “By creating video brackets and by taking short interviews with players and organizers, which I will upload to my YouTube Channel in ‘real time', I intend to keep the viewers and fans informed of as many statistics that I can gather so that on Day 2 of the event when the knockout rounds begin, viewers will already know who is left and will hopefully have a sense of who the players are.
“I invite anyone interested in this event to make a friend request on Facebook to the USSA or to Daniel Busch (www.facebook.com/danielrupertbusch) in order to gain access to this live feed of information.”
In regard to streaming the event, Busch also commented: “I am proud and honored to be a part of this venture with the USSA and to have the opportunity to promote Snooker in the United States. I have been a long-‐time ‘American' pool-‐player here, but the truth is, I am British born and cannot neglect my roots. Snooker is a sport, which deserves more recognition in the USA. Also, I would like to thank Benny Yiu of the Embassy Billiard Club, an exceptional man who has paid great attention to this endeavor.
Sponsors of the event will include Tweeten Fibre Inc., manufacturers of some of the best known cue tips and chalk brands in snooker, and Saluc, manufacturer of Aramith Tournament Champion Snooker Balls, who have been a long-‐term supporter of snooker in the United States.
Payouts for the Championship will be awarded to the final four finishers. The 1st and 2nd Place payouts for this event will consist of a cash award of $1,000 and free entry to represent the United States in this year's IBSF World Snooker Championships, which are to be held in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, in November. 3rd and 4th Place awards are based on how much is left in the prize fund.
For entry details, rules and sponsor inquiries, please visit www.snookerusa.com
USSA on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unitedstatessnookerassociation USSA Website: http://www.snookerusa.com
POV Pool on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/danielrupertbusch
LIVE STREAM URL: http://www.povpool.com
