George Ondaatjie Snooker Tourney April 24 and 25 at Grand Hotel

SNOOKER: Deshabandu George Ondaatjie Annual Snooker Tournament which was inaugurated last year and which turned out to be a great success, will be held for the second successive year on April 24 and 25 as part of the April season festivities in Nuwara Eliya.

The draw will be held today.

At the press conference held in connection with the tournament, the Resident Manager of Grand Hotel Raju N. Veerasingham, who is also the President of the Grand Hotel Sports Club traced back the history of the tournament which was earlier held as a Pot Black Tournament during the April seasons which was a land mark event.

He said that the George Ondaatjie Tournament was inaugurated last year will be held this year as well.

This two-day tournament will start at 8.30 a.m. on both days and the finals will be on April 25.

There's big prizes to be won. The winner will get Rs. 30,000 plus Deshabandu George Ondaatjie Challenge Trophy, first runner-up: Rs. 20,000 plus trophy, 2nd runner up: Rs. 10,000 plus a trophy and third runner-up: Rs. 5,000 plus a trophy.

The awards ceremony will be held on April 25 at the Grand Ballroom at 7.30 p.m.

K. Indrawasam - the Manager of Hatton National Bank, Nuwara Eliya, being the Principal Sponsor, presented a cheque for Rs. 100,000 to Palaka Perera. Shalith Amunugama - Regional Sales Manager of Sole Mag Storage Batteries, made a presentation of Rs. 25,000 being the co-sponsor for the second successive year.

A. A. Pushpakumara, the Tournament Secretary of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka thanked the Grand Hotel for holding the tournament by which lovers of Billiards and Snooker were able to continue their sport in Nuwara Eliya.

Last year, Nimal Silva of Grand Hotel Sports Club won while the first runner - up was Mohamed Aslam of Moors Sports Club.