The former United States National Snooker Champion, Ajeya Prabhakar, will travel to the Colombian city of Cali today to represent the United States in the snooker event of this year's World Games which run from July 25 - August 4.

The World Games, which were first held in 1981 in Santa Clara, California, which also happens to be the present home of the USSA, are an international multi-sport event for sports that are not currently contested in the Olympic Games.

The World Games are organized and governed by the International World Games Association (IWGA), under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

There are six categories of sports which are included in the World Games, and these are Artistic & Dance Sports, Ball Sports, Martial Arts, Precision Sports, Strength Sports and Trend Sports - in these Games, there is also an additional category for Invitation Sports.

Snooker is in the Precision Sports category under the umbrella of Billiard Sports, and the snooker event will be contested alongside events for pool and 3-cushion carom, from July 26 - 30.

Billiard Sports were introduced into the World Games back in 2001. Although the top ranked players on the professional World Snooker Tour have generally not participated, each of the Gold medal winners however have come from the many distinguished competing World Snooker Tour professionals who have entered.

A total of sixteen players, a combination of both amateur and professional players from thirteen nations around the world, will contest this year's snooker event which will include the defending champion from four years ago, Great Britain's Nigel Bond, who is currently ranked 44 on the professional world ranking list after the recent Rotterdam Open.

Prabhakar's selection was made back in March in order to meet the World Games deadline, and he told SnookerUSA.com: "I think it is a great opportunity and I am very proud to represent the United States in Cali.

"It is bound to be an awesome games with an extremely tough field participating, and it will interesting to see what happens."

Prabhakar will also be going to the event in his role as the president of the United States Snooker Association (USSA), and he commented: "It is also great that an international snooker event is being staged in this part of the world, and I am also hoping to collaborate with other South American nations so that we can have some events within Pan-America."

Also present at the Games will be the chairman of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA), Jason Ferguson.

The WPBSA, as the governing body of snooker's professional game, are working closely with the amateur body, the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), on developing the sport around the world, and Ferguson is particularly keen in the development of new markets in the Americas which he expressed to the Executive Director of the USSA, Alan Morris, at a meeting during this year's World Championship in Sheffield, England.

Ferguson told the World Snooker website: "As we strive to strengthen our position as a World Sport it is vital that we earn our participation in such high caliber sporting events.

"Several sports previously in the World Games, such as triathlon, subsequently made it into the Olympics as participation in the World Games is used as a stepping stone towards the Olympic dream.

"Involvement in multi sports events like this is also vital to many National Governing Bodies around the globe who receive significant funding for their sports development.

"I would like to thank all of our athletes who are competing for medals in Cali as they carry our Billiard Sports flag in to another major sporting arena."

The draw for the Round Of 16 for the Snooker Event is as follows:

Round Of 16 (Players in bold denote 2013-14 World Snooker Tour professional player)
Player		Player
Brendan O'Donoghue (Ireland)	vs.	Joe Perry (Great Britain)
Luis Lemus (Guatemala)	vs.	Aditya Mehta (India)
Pedro Rolim Bohm (Brazil)	vs.	Dechawat Poomjaeng (Thailand)
Ajeya Prabhakar (United States)	vs.	Pankaj Advani (India)
Peter Francisco (South Africa)	vs.	Nigel Bond (Great Britain)
Noppon Saengkham (Thailand)	vs.	Liang Wenbo (China)
Lyu Haotian (China)	vs.	Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Iran)
Alex Borg (Malta)	vs.	Igor Figueiredo (Brazil)

For the official website of the 2013 World Games, please click on the link below:
» 2013 World Games (English version)