One month ago when the IBSF had received entries for the World U21 in Goa, Mr Keynezhad immediatly contacted me to request that the IBSF should respect the Olympic charter, and to explain that he was very happy to sponsor a USD 2000 prize money for this competition.

I have now met Mr Keynezhad to find out what inspired the motivation of this 63 Iranian engineer architect, MBA, DBA to sponsor our competition and to be so enthusiastic in helping the IBSF.

Ahmad has himself a proud sporting achievement, as in 1964 he was the Iran Champion in swimming 200m freestyle.

He has also won the Islamic Championship for shooting, swimming and horse riding.

But Ahmad is also a Snooker and Billiards referee graduated by the ACBS, and a Cue sports player and has played in Myanmar in the 2003 Asian Billiards Championships and in Chinese Taipei in Pool (9 ball).

His motivation to become the sponsor of the IBSF ladies Under 21 is not only the result of his daughter is playing, but that likes the sport so very much.

He explained to me that since the creation of the Iran Federation in 2001, his wife, who is the Vice President of the Federation, and himself have been very active to promote and develop the ladies side of our sport.

In Asia and for the first time, some ladies from Iran have been nominated as the referees for a men’s event during the 2006 championship.

In Teheran a special room of 300 square metres has been created for the female players.

This year in Doha, three ladies from Iran have refereed in the U21 and this October he will be with his wife in Macau, as Technical Officers for Cues sports.

Mr Keynezhad believes that the IBSF should always « keep the door open » to welcome people that are ready to help our sport.

His vision is to see the IBSF create a « Ladies Committee » and he says that he will be very happy to help all of the ladies competitions.

Mr Keynezhad has signed with the IBSF in Goa, a special sponsorship agreement to be the main sponsor of the IBSF ladies U21 Snooker Championship for the three next years, up to and including 2010.

During this period the IBSF has the guarantee to know that the prize money and trophies will be provided by this most generous and enthusiastic sponsor.

It’s now the objective of the IBSF to promote this competition, so that it achieves the success it so rightly deserves.