Hurghada Pyramisa Hotels will host the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World 6Red and Team Snooker Championship from 2-10 August. The categories are men, women and masters for team snooker and men and women for 6Reds. Hosted by the Egyptian Federation of Billiards, the event is being held under the sponsorship of Al-Ahram Advertising Agency and Pyramisa Hotels. The tournament will be played in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, in Sahl Hasheesh, a bay located on the Red Sea coast across from Sharm El-Sheikh, approximately 18km south of Hurghada International Airport. Sahl Hasheesh Bay is home to a number of islands and coral reefs with excellent diving and snorkelling. The nearby Abu Hasheesh Island is a local protectorate containing a thriving community of marine life. “It is the right time to choose Hurghada to host the nine-day event especially after the acts of terror and stabbings that took place last week. It is very essential to show the world that we are a safe country with magnificent Red Sea resorts that will play host to the event and show that such silly actions are isolated and are taking place around the world,” Emad Farid, regional sales and marketing manager at Pyramisa, said. Two German tourists were killed in stabbings in Hurghada last week. The suspect was arrested. Farid also said the hotels sponsoring the event are providing not only accommodation but are offering foreign participants a one-day free sea voyage where they can go snorkelling, fishing and swimming. The offer is for IBSF board members, journalists, referees and guests. Snooker Championship in Egypt Hesham Lotfi, manager of Al-Ahram Advertising Agency, said the agency was honoured to sponsor such an international event on the IBSF international calendar. “This year's event will have prize money totalling $52,000 from our sponsors,” Mohamed Al-Kammah, general secretary of the IBSF, said. Al-Kammah, who is also president of the African Billiards Federation and deputy president of the Egyptian Billiards and Snooker Federation, added that the EBSF has 3,000 players and will open two academies soon in Cairo and Alexandria stadiums to attract as many players as it can. “We are targeting Upper Egypt in our plan for this year. We are providing a number of tables and cues to be able to train players in youth centres around the Upper Egypt governorates.” Growing up, Al-Kammah was a judo player at the Dokki Shooting Club. Three of his friends played billiards so he joined them one day and was fascinated by the sport. “I decided to practise it as I felt it needs thinking and concentration and since then I fell in love with billiards.” A number of world champions are participating in Hurghada, including multiple-time IBSF champion and former pro player Darren Morgan of Wales who has won the three editions of the competition played in Egypt. Morgan, born in Newport, South Wales in 1966, is a former Welsh professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur. He won the World Amateur Championship in 1987 and played on the main professional tour from 1988 until 2007. He earned over £1 million in prize money, reached a high ranking of eight, and was ranked within the top 16 for many years despite never winning a ranking event. He compiled 111 century breaks in his career, one of only 49 players to have completed a century of centuries in professional play. His best achievements as a professional were winning the Irish Masters in 1996, beating Steve Davis 9-8 in the final and he captained Wales to victory in the 1999 Nations Cup. He was also a semi-finalist in the 1994 World Championship, beating Mark King 10-5, Willie Thorne 13-12 and John Parrott 13-11 before losing to Jimmy White 9-16. He was also a quarter-finalist on three occasions, beating Ken Doherty and Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1996 and 1997 respectively at the Crucible. When he beat O'Sullivan in 1997 it was in the round after O'Sullivan had scored his memorable 5:20 147 break against Mick Price. Morgan still plays in amateur and pro-am events, and won the European Masters and World Masters Championship titles in 2007. On 22 October 2009 he won the TCC Pro-Am by beating fellow Welshman Mark Williams 7-4 in the final. On 23 November 2009 Morgan won his second IBSF World Snooker Championship in the Masters section, defeating three-time defending champion Dene O'Kane of New Zealand 6–0 in the final. Morgan entered the World Open 2010 as an amateur along with fellow senior Tony Knowles and caused an upset by reaching the last 64 of the competition, before narrowly losing to former world number four Matthew Stevens 3-2 in round three. In November 2011, he entered the World Seniors Championships in Peterborough and came away with victory over Steve Davis in the final. Morgan beat former world champion Cliff Thorburn and ‘Whirlwind' Jimmy White in the previous rounds before facing the six-time world champion in the final. In fact, Morgan had to win qualifying matches just to reach the final stages of the tournament. He beat Davis 2-1 in the final and came home to his Club in Cross Keys with the trophy. In June 2016, as a wildcard entry to the Riga Masters having won the EBSA European Open title several weeks prior, Morgan overcame Bradley Jones 4-3, Adam Stefanow 4-2, Zhao Xintong 4-1, Doherty 4-3 and Xiao Guodong 4-2 to set up a semi-final encounter with Neil Robertson. Appearing at this stage of a ranking event for the first time since 1999, and becoming the oldest ranking semi-finalist since Rex Williams in 1986, Morgan was whitewashed 5–0 by the eventual champion.
