MSBF reschedule snooker events in Middle East due to conflict

KUALA LUMPUR: The escalating conflict in the Middle East has forced the Malaysian Snooker and Billiards Federation (MSBF) to reassess the participation plans of national athletes in several international tournaments scheduled to take place this year.

MSBF president Melvin Chia said several tournaments originally planned abroad, including in Saudi Arabia, had to be postponed or changed following the conflict situation in the region.

He said the development had caused the governing body to rearrange the competition programme as the duration of the conflict is still uncertain.

“For this year’s tournament, we had planned several participations abroad, but due to the conflict in the Middle East that has just begun, many tournaments scheduled to take place in the region had to be postponed or changed.

“So now many plans had to be changed because of the situation and we are also not sure how long the situation will last,” he said.

Melvin said that for now, MSBF would focus on the participation of national athletes in tournaments in Asia and Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, he said MSBF were also taking on a big challenge to break the jinx in the 2027 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur

“In 2001 when we hosted in Kuala Lumpur and also in the 2017 edition, we did not win any gold medals despite winning five medals in total,” he said.

“So every time we host, the challenge is really big because our athletes face the pressure of playing on their home turf,” he said.

He said the pressure was different compared to when athletes competed abroad because they had to perform in front of family and friends who were there to support them.

At the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand, the snooker camp won two golds, one each in the men’s individual 6-red snooker event through Thor Chuan Leong and the men’s team. — Bernama