The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) recognized Le Méridien Al Aqah for its contribution in supporting the world billiard championship over the past five years.
 

The WPA awards ceremony was recently held at Emery Court in Fujairah and highlighted the resort’s great efforts in raising the profile of the game of pool and billiards within the UAE and garnering local interest in the sport.
 

“We are absolutely delighted to be recognized for all of our strides. It is a great honor and we certainly look forward to extending our support in the coming years,” said Patrick Antaki, General Manager of Le Méridien Al Aqah.
 

“Our idea behind introducing a world championship to this region of the world was to try and encourage participation in the Arab countries as a way of developing the game and improving their playing standards,” said Ian Anderson, President of the World Pool-Billiard Association.
 

“ICm very pleased to say that this is exactly what has happened. We started this by allocating a number of spots to guarantee Arab participation in the championship proper. As a result there is now more interest than ever from the Arab countries and the number of Arab players entering a qualifying events each year is growing all the time,” said Anderson.

Since brining the world championship to Fujairah interest has been on the rise, with the sport covered on various regional television programs.

“The fact that we brought our sport to Fujairah by way of a major championship has undoubtedly been a major factor for the people in Qatar to commence their own event. ICm sure it wonCt end with Qatar, we are anticipating requests before too long to stage an event in other nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. There is interest too from Iran, Syria and Lebanon,” added Anderson.

The Crown Prince of Fujairah, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi attended the appreciation ceremony.