Over a hundred players descended on San Javier last week for the National Championship to be held in the Parque Almansa civic centre.

Local pool champion, David Zapata, who is ranked 6th in the tournament, said “Everyone is dangerous, and the standard is really high, anyone at all from the 116 players could win.”

To be played from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 10 pm, competitors will perform on four tables all located in the same room, from where the competition will be retransmitted live on the internet in LaLiga 4Sports.

When the event took place last year in Madrid there were 107 competitors so the increase seen this year in San Javier is a testament to the sport’s growing popularity in Spain.

The president of the Billar Club of San Javier, Francisco Jareño he was delighted by the number of entrants, who’s ages range from 17 to 70, with 36 players from the Murcia community and 80 from the rest of Spain.