By Leonard Lim

FIRST Asia, then Europe, now the world?

Peter Gilchrist will be gunning for a unique treble next month, when Singapore hosts this year’s amateur World Billiards Championships at Orchid Country Club.

“After those two titles, there will definitely be pressure on me to perform. But, once you start winning, it becomes a habit, so I’m quite confident of my chances,” said the 39-year-old yesterday.

In June, the England-born Gilchrist claimed the Asian and European titles in Doha and Ireland respectively.

Reigning champion Pankaj Advani of India and his compatriot and seven-time world champion Geet Sethi are the other stars who have confirmed their participation at the Sept 5–14 event.

Organisers are expecting over 40 players from 15 countries for the event, with 36 names pencilled in so far.

Apart from the two-time former professional world champion Gilchrist, who received Singapore citizenship last year, former South-east Asia Games bronze medallists Glenn Yeo and Alan Puan will be flying the Republic’s flag.

Singapore will be the first country in South-east Asia to host the prestigious tournament, which carries a prize purse of US$8,000 (S$12,200).

Participants will compete in two categories — Traditional Time and Frame.

In the first, the players have to chalk up points within a specified time limit.

The Frame uses a best-of-five-frames (150 points per frame) format, progressing to the best of 11 frames in the final.

Admission to the event is free, as the organisers want to use it as a platform to promote the sport here.

“Many youngsters pick up pool because it’s faster and easier to play, but this is a good chance to raise the sport’s profile and attract more people to pick it up,” said Ronnie Chua, the organising committee’s chairman.

“If we can do it well, we’ll also bid to host the world pool and snooker tournaments.”