Life has come full circle for cuesport great Yasin Merchant. The tournament which gave his career a boost as a 13-year-old has been revived by the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra (BSAM) after 33 years. Interestingly, in 1991, he won the Western India All-India Billiards & Snooker Championship, the last time the tournament was held before its revival.

This year it will be played at the Khar Gymkhana billiards hall from August 3-18, where a bevy of stars like India’s celebrated cueist Pankaj Advani, winner of 27 world titles, reigning Asian and National Billiards champion Dhruv Sitwala, national snooker champion Sourav Kothari, Aditya Mehta, Laxman Rawat, Rupesh Shah, Dhvaj Haria, Alok Kumar, Siddharth Parikh and S Srikrishna will vie for top honours in the senior billiards and snooker events. When asked what the tournament means to him, Merchant said it is very dear for multiple reasons.