History of ACBS
Asia has been recorded in history books as the birthplace of English Billiards, considered the mother of all forms of billiard sports.
Although, traces of disciplines like English Billiards and snooker being played in many Asian countries can be found as far as the heralding of the 20th century, Asia had been without a representative collective voice until the 1980s.
The need for a concerted effort to develop billiard sports in Asia and to give the continent a stronger voice on the international stage, the Asian Billiards & Snooker Federation (ABSF), which is now known as the Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS), formed in 1984 under the leadership of late Maurice Kerr of Thailand.
The eight Founding Country members were Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand, who jointly staged the inaugural Asian Snooker Championship in 1984 in Bangkok under ABSF. Sakchai Sim-ngam of the host country won the honour of being the first Asian champion.
Singapore (1985) and Sri Lanka (1986) organised the 2nd and 3rd Asian Snooker Championships in 1985 and 1986 the top honours at these two events were won by Gary Kwok of Hong Kong and James Wattana of Thailand, respectively. James Wattana then went on to win the Asian title again in 1988 in Sri Lanka and won the IBSF World Championship in Australia the same. He then turned professional and to this date James Wattana is once successful Asian player ever on the World Snooker professional circuit, having reaching the third place in world ranking once.
Over the years, the ACBS has played an active role in developing cue sports not only at the Asian level but also at the international level, being one of the strongest component regions within the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF).
In the early years of ACBS, Australia and New Zealand were parts of the federation and competed at its annual championships. They subsequently left the ACBS in 1995, after forming their own Oceania Federation.
ACBS’ efforts on the international stage can be highlighted from the fact that in 1992 it (the then ABSF) was a founding member of the World Confederation of Billiard Sports (WCBS).
ACBS has also played a significant role in getting “Billiards & Snooker” events to be competed in the SEA Games (since 1987) and featuring the cue sport events in the Asian Games (since 1998) and in the IWGA World Games (since 2001). Another landmark achievement for ACBS came in the way of by being accredited by the OCA and GAASF as the “ASF” for the billiards sports in Asia, responsible for organising the Asian and SEA Games.
Apart from its annual Asian Snooker Championships, ACBS now organises its own Under-21 Snooker Championships, Asian Billiards Championships, Asian 6 Reds and Teams, and Asian Billiard Sports Championship.
Since 2001, ACBS has restructured itself to be run by an Executive Board, with other Board Members represented by its four regional federations. In addition, there are ad hoc committees created such as one devoted to organising the multi-sport events.