BILLIARDS TOURNEY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 150, 21 March 1939, Page 10

BILLIARDS TOURNEY

New Zealand Centennial

Attraction

It is hoped to arrange a big New Zealand and Australian billiards championship tournament in Wellington as part of the New Zealand centennial celebrations.

Negotiations have been going on for some time between the controlling bodies of the Commonwealth and the Dominion concerning the proposed tournament, and Mr. A. Cohen, chairman of the Wellington Billiards Association, will leave for Sydney by the Awatea on April 3 to interview the Australian Billiards Council on the subject, and make final arrangements. It is certain that Bob Marshall, of West Australia, amateur champion of the British Empire, will come to Wellington to defend his title, and one of his opponents will be Cleary, of Sydney, the New South Wales amateur champion.

The amateur championship of New Zealand will be decided at Wellington, with the consent of all the other centres, in the early period of the centennial celebrations. Endeavours are being made by the Wellington Billiards Association to secure a suitable room in the exhibition buildings. Marshall in Demand. Bob Marshall has received two offers to travel, and he may accept both. In addition to the offer from New Zealand, an invitation from India offers all expenses and a long exhibition tour. India is to have the Empire championships next year. Its representative at the championships in Melbourne last year, M. M. Begg, arranged that. He wants Marshall to tour the country before the championship to stir up greater interest in the Empire meeting. Incidentally, Marshall finds relaxation from billiards in the hobby of breeding goldfish. He has more than 100 of them, and spends as much time with them as he does at bis billiards.