Wando-gun, Key Points to Watch in Billiards at the 62nd Jeonnam Sports Festival

Viewing Highlights: 'Mathematics, Physics, and Sports Meet in Billiards'

The 62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival, a sports event promoting unity among 2 million residents of Jeollanam-do, will be held in Wando-gun for four days from May 12 to 15.

The Organizing Committee of the 62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival is introducing the rules and viewing points of each sport every week to help residents and spectators enjoy the games more.

The exterior view of Wando Culture and Arts Center where the 62nd Jeonnam Sports Festival billiards competition will be held
[Photo by Wando-gun]

The sport introduced this time is 'billiards.' Billiards is a sport played on a standardized table with several balls, struck with a long stick called a cue, and the winner is determined according to the rules. It is broadly divided into carom and pocket billiards.

Carom billiards is played without pockets, where multiple target balls are hit in a single shot. In Korea, it is widely known as 4-ball and 3-ball games played on a four-cushion table without holes.

Pocket billiards involves pocketing target balls into six pockets located at the edges of the table. It uses 10 balls numbered 1 to 10, and the principle is to pocket them in ascending numerical order.

The billiards competition at the 62nd Jeonnam Sports Festival will be held over two days, May 13 and 14, at the Wando Culture and Arts Center’s Culture Hall. About 40 players from 22 cities and counties will participate in individual tournaments for carom (3-cushion) and pocket billiards (10-ball).

Participants consist of one to two players per event, excluding directors and coaches. Eligibility requires participants to be natives of Jeollanam-do and to have completed registration for the provincial sports festival within the designated period. Officials and players active in other cities or provinces are not allowed to participate.

At last year’s 61st competition, the carom (3-cushion) first place was Yeonggwang, second place Mokpo, and third place Suncheon and Gangjin. In pocket billiards (10-ball), first place was Damyang, second place Sinan, and third place Yeosu and Haenam.

At the 58th competition in 2019, carom (3-cushion) first place was Yeongam, second place Suncheon, and third place Boseong and Haenam. Pocket billiards (10-ball) first place was Jangseong, second place Sinan, and third place Gangjin and Damyang. The 2020 and 2021 competitions were canceled due to COVID-19.

Reviewing past results, various cities and counties have won championships, making all participants strong contenders. A fierce competition is expected at the 62nd festival, and Wando-gun is especially anticipated to leverage its home advantage to achieve good results.

Meanwhile, Wando-gun is preparing a spectacular opening ceremony along with diverse side events to make this Jeonnam Sports Festival a cultural and tourism festival that blends sports and culture.

Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kyungpil Choi ckp6737@asiae.co.kr

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.