ho was elected DFB treasurer in 2013, told The Ass

There was little to suggest, through the week, at the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) in central Bengaluru that a World Championship was underway. Despite some of the games best players in the house, the playing hall was largely empty and quiet; except for the final, which was packed, there were fewer than a dozen spectators - and half of those were invariably players families.The answer possibly lies with the sport in question - Billiards.At a time when sport is being tweaked to fit capsule-sized formats, and keeping in mind decreasing audience attention spans, billiards sticks to tradition: Players dressed in waistcoat and bowtie, matches sometimes lasting seven hours long. Billiards evolved from a lawn game similar to croquet played in the 15th century, and doesnt seem to have changed much since then.Its younger cousin, snooker, ticks the right boxes. Its faster, uses more balls (15 as opposed to the three of billiards) and generally enjoys a wider profile across the globe. In Myanmar, for example, snooker is the growing sport; billiards languishes in obscurity. Youngsters in Myanmar take to snooker a lot more than they do to billiards, Myanmars highest-ranked billiards player Aung Htay told ESPN at the World Championships. Billiards is viewed as old fashioned.It seems almost everyone in the game agrees with that, but nothing has been done about it. The rules of the sport have to be tweaked, says reigning national billiards champion and this years World Championship silver medallist Sourav Kothari. Billiards is getting monotonous, especially the long format. You have to jazz it up, bring more noise into the sport. The absence of a marketable star with a magnetic personality - someone who would venture beyond the staid and predictable, and maybe even engage in the occasional trash talk to fan viewer interest - has also hurt the sport. Pankaj Advani, one of its bigger stars, is reticent, non-controversial and anything but pompous of his achievements. Rivalries in sport work like a charm. Theres very little of it in cue sport. The ones that exist arent storied or publicized enough. We need a couple of good rivalries to latch on to peoples imagination, feels Geet Sethi.A primary concern for the sport is its lack of television coverage. A crushing blow in frenzied times such as these. The reason again lies in the sport itself: not being spectator-friendly enough. Talking to ESPN, Peter Gilchrist admits despite decent attempts at making the game shorter, little has changed. Weve tried everything: 50-up, 100-up, 150-up, points format, time format but unfortunately theres still no people. We probably need a bunch of girls in bikinis, he says, over a laugh, At least it worked for beach volleyball.While shorter formats, like the 100-up, which essentially means a player would have to first score over 100 points to win a frame in a usually best of five frame format which can last anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour are more popular among a wider base, it hasnt really translated into tangible numbers for the sport.Geet Sethi, easily Indias most celebrated name in billiards, argues that the relevance of the sport in the 21st century isnt a fair question, choosing instead to focus on the factors which contribute to its peripheral status. To make billiards spectator friendly is a tough call, he says, Given that weve tried the shorter formats as well. Take a sport like shooting or archery for instance. Theyre really boring to watch and anything but spectator-friendly, but being a part of the Olympics has changed the dynamics. We need to be back in the Asian Games at least, to start with.Cue sports were part of the Asian Games from the 1998 Bangkok edition, but were dropped at the 2014 Games in Guangzhou due to financial constraints. It does not feature in the Commonwealth Games either. That makes the Olympics a pretty long shot. Getting into the Asian Games would be a huge boost and would lead to a revival. The future of billiards, I feel, lies in making a comeback at the Asian Games, which would be fantastic. Or else we would be plodding along like we currently are, adds Gilchrist, agreeing with Sethi.One way, Kothari suggests, of making the game more interesting is by adding a circle somewhere on the table, either by way of a thin round film or a laser beam. We could say that if theres any ball in that circle and you score points from there you get 30 extra points, he says, The circle could be put in a very difficult spot in the table, where the ball cannot go too often, maybe inside the D and we could have a blue ball as one of the strikers instead of having a spotted white and spotted yellow one. If the ball stops inside a particular circle, you lose a point that you scored or if it stops inside a particular zone you lose your visit and a certain number of points. We need to change the way viewers see the game. We need to make it more colorful. Maybe the white can be done away with totally and we could have a green or blue striker instead.Ascribing billiards sagging interest to a sea change in the sponsorship scenario, Gilchrist says that through the 1990s when ITC sponsored billiards events, there was money in the sport. Since tobacco sponsorship ended, billiards too is more or less gone, he adds. ITC was known to have spent close to Rs 250 crore annually in sponsoring cricket, golf, billiards, tennis and horse racing events before pulling out in 2001 following the central governments decision to ban advertising and promotion of tobacco products. It did, however, return following a three-year hiatus to hold the 2005 Sunfeast Open tennis tournament in Kolkata. Billiards needs an influx of cash to pick up. Its not really a spectator sport. Its more of a strategic game and the best players make it look far too easy, says Gilchrist, who won his first world title in 1994.While a snooker and pool league is in the works for a possible March 2017 launch in India, billiards isnt part of the plan. Hosting the ongoing World Championship cost the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) close to Rs 70 lakhs, out of which the primary sponsor, Karnataka Tourism, paid Rs 15 lakhs. The lacunae lies within the federation itself, says BSFI secretary G Balasubramaniam, We are unable to promote the event (World Billiards Championship) because of our limitations. Private sponsorship is little. What is worrying is that even for a big-ticket snooker event like the Indian Open, which is beamed live and well-promoted it is very difficult to find willing sponsors.Earlier this month, the sports ministry in association with the BSFI inaugurated a billiards academy at the Talkatora stadium in New Delhi and the idea, Balasubramaniam adds, is to replicate the effort in five centres across the country. It is divided into two sections: one for beginners and the other for players, he says, Its been less than a fortnight so far and the numbers are on the rise in the beginners section. Also our application for promotion of billiards in schools and colleges is pending.An oft-talked about disincentive of the sport is its need for infrastructure to be played: Table, balls, cue, unlike say football or cricket. The accessibility to such facilities being limited to high-end social clubs or pool parlours makes it instantly unappealing to a large section of people. The jury has also been long out on the need for the sport to shed its bowtie-waistcoat dress code and become more casual, funky, colorful and most importantly, relatable. Kothari, though feels the sport is synonymous with its look. I like the waistcoat, maybe not the bowtie. It adds to the grace of the game. Gilchrist had a more ingenious idea to offer. We should probably turn up in trunks, he says, cracking up.While billiards future, some might suggest, hinges on its ability to reinvent and package itself better, Sethi has a word of faith. There will be periods when well have brilliant players, good rivalry and it will become popular. Then well go through a lull phase. It could be alternating decades possibly, he says.Billiards is a great survivor. Phil Simms Giants Jersey . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. Evan Engram Giants Jersey . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. http://www.giantsrookiestore.com/Giants-Phil-Mcconkey-Jersey/ .Y. - General manager Billy King says the Brooklyn Nets are looking to add a big man and confirmed the team worked out centre Jason Collins, who would become the first openly gay active NBA player if signed. Carl Banks Giants Jersey . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Dalvin Tomlinson Giants Jersey . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. ATHENS, Greece -- Germany is pressing ahead with its bid to host the 2024 European Championship, insisting Wednesday that its soccer leadership should be trusted because it is not linked to mounting allegations of wrongdoing against the 2006 World Cup campaign.Swiss federal prosecutors have opened criminal proceedings against Franz Beckenbauer and the three other German members of the 2006 organizing committee. The four are suspected of fraud, money laundering, criminal mismanagement and misappropriation relating to a payment of 6.7 million euros ($7.3 million) to FIFA in 2005.The Swiss authorities and FIFA have been investigating the German bid since last year, with no end in sight for the case. But the German federation (DFB) has not been deterred from continuing its pursuit of soccers second biggest national team competition after the World Cup.Germany withdrew from bidding for matches at the continent-wide Euro 2020 to focus on bringing the 2024 edition to the country in its entirety.German federation president Reinhard Grindel said Wednesday that the 2006 bid investigation is no problem because we said that we would make our bid transparent with unspecified good governance processes.We have new leadership in the DDFB and so all FAs trust us, Grindel, who was elected DFB treasurer in 2013, told The Associated Press.dddddddddddd These people who are at the center of the investigation have no influence now in the DFB and so we are not responsible for what happened in 2006.The 2006 tournament became known as Germanys Summer Fairytale and the country is seeking a replay.Its our ambition to host Euro 2024 because we are well prepared, Grindel said in an interview on the sidelines of the UEFA Congress in Athens. We have the stadiums, we have the infrastructure.We showed with the organization of the (UEFA) under-19 tournament (in July) that we can do it, that we have great experience and so I think our bid will be a good bid.The Nordic group of soccer federations from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden said in April they wanted to host the European Championship either in 2024 or 2028. That bid would seek to stage events in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, too.There is no timeframe for the bidding process or a date for the vote.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '