I had the pleasure to be invited by the President of the Thai Federation together with the IBSF Board members, to have the opportunity to observe the tournament which brought together top professional and amateur players.

The concept is simple, to reduce to 6 reds, the number of red balls and therefore 75 points becomes the highest break.

To encourage participants to quickly clear the table, every day the fastest break of 75 received a reward of US$1000.

Saleh Mohammad (Pakistan) now holds the tournament record of 2 minutes 37 for the 75 Maximum Break!

As judicioulsy pointed out by Peter Ebdon "to reduce the number of red balls increases the tactical and strategic aspect of the game"

Indeed I have seen that the risks are more evident than ever and that the defence tactics are especially a crucial part in the beginning of the frame.

The average duration of a frame was 6-7 minutes, but a few frames took 30 minutes just to separate the players!

This situation leads us to think about the possibility of changing a few of the rules to suit a game whose main concept is speed.

The Rules Committee of the IBSF will consider this issue and propose to the organisers ideas on the topic.

After discussing with most players, and also coaches and delegates it is indisputable that the concept is innovative and is very well accepted.

The charm of Thailand and an exemplary organisation is of course no stranger to this success.

The tournament was televised live and the local press widely covered the event each day.

This tournament is definitely a success and I have learned that next month,by invitation only, a Team tournament with 6 reds is being organised in Pakistan.

It remains at this time for the IBSF to fully evaluate this concept and to find how and in what form it could be possible to exploit what could become an excellent tool for promoting our Sport