World Disability Billiards And Snooker (WDBS) is a new body which has been created to give more people with disabilities the opportunity to play cue sports.
The WDBS has been set up under the auspices of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, with guidance from the English Federation of Disability Sport.
The new body will run tournaments for people with disabilities, under eight different categories. Details for the first tournament, which will include five of these categories, will be announced shortly.
There will also be open days when players can get free advice and guidance from experienced World Snooker coaches.
WPBSA's Nigel Mawer will be chairman of the body, with coaches Bob Hill and Tim Squires, tournament director Clive Brown and Paralympic athlete Jonathan Adams also on the board.
Mawer said: "Snooker and Billiards are among the few sports which can be played by anyone, regardless of age and gender, and the WDBS will give more chances to people with disabilities to meet up and play competitively. I would like to thank the EFDS for their specialist advice as creating the correct framework at this early stage is vital to our international success. We aim to work with the international, regional and national governing body structure and in the longer term we would like to expand this out to community programmes. We would like to hear from any organisation or body that is willing to contribute to our sport's growth in this area."
WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson added: “Under the World Confederation of Billiards Sports and working with a number of global partners, we recently put together a fantastic bid to get cue sports included in the Olympics, and while this narrowly failed, we remain determined to get recognition in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Our sport is a sport for all and we strive to break down any boundaries and get more people involved at all levels."
