The national Russian-billiards championship started on Wednesday in St. Petersburg.

Talking to RIA Novosti, people at the city's billiards federation noted that the championship involved all the best Russian players, i.e. masters of sports, masters of sports (international class), as well as national champions.

St. Petersburg will be represented by six players, including five masters of sports, as well as Vladimir Petushkov, master of sports (international class), European champion and the 2004 world championship's prize-winner. Four female masters of sports will also take part in this championship.

The national Russian-billiards championship will end on March 6.

About forty different Russian-billiards versions exist. This can be explained by the fact that no official billiards competitions were held during the Soviet era. Each city and each billiard room boasted its own rules. The billiards-sports federation was established in the late 1980s. It therefore became necessary to standardize billiards rules, to work out a standard billiard-tournament system, as well as that of referees. Game rules were also summed up.

In 1994 the national billiards-sport federation officially endorsed such rules and those of billiards competitions.

News source: www.en.rian.ru
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