THE Manila Hotel Tent City is the venue for cue sports in the Sea Games but, unfortunately, they have gotten their priorities wrong.
With only four days before the opening day of cue sports, the tables for snooker, pool, billiards and carom along with the scoreboards and other equipment have not been installed yet.
The management of the hall will only allow it to be turned into a Sea Games arena today.
This is because the hotel’s 2,400 square feet hall, known for organising fashion shows, hosted a social function yesterday.
What’s worse, the draws for the 10 events — men’s snooker (singles and doubles); men and women’s nine-ball pool (singles and doubles) and 10-ball pool (singles); men’s billiards (singles); and carom — have yet to be conducted.
Malaysian Snooker & Billiards Federation (MSBF) president Melvin Chia is puzzled as this had never happened in previous editions.
“The Manila Hotel Tent City is not ready to host cue sports. Even the training hall is empty.
“According to the tournament’s technical delegate, tables will only be installed in the main hall tomorrow (today) because it is now fully booked for social functions.
“It is dumbfounding as the competition starts on Tuesday. Normally, players are given one or two days to familiarise with the tables and condition of venues.
“Going by this development, I don’t think our players can even get half-a-day on the tables ahead of their events.
“I wish I was in Manila now to create a ruckus. The organisers had moved the venue for cue sports three times before deciding to host it at this hotel.
“I can’t travel to Manila because I am recovering from a sprained ankle,” Melvin told Timesport.
He also disclosed that participating countries are still in the dark as to when the draws will be conducted.
“We have no information about it (the draw) as there has been no official notification. We are still waiting for the organisers to invite delegates for the draw ceremony.
“According to regulations, they cannot hold the draw without officially notifying other nations. We will protest if they do it quietly,” he said.
Malaysia will compete in all the events, except carom, and Moh Keen Hoo (snooker) is MSBF’s best bet for gold.