The young group of UAE national players have settled in at the under-21 Givenchy billiards coaching camp, being held under the auspices of the UAE Billiards and Snooker Association at the Dubai Snooker Club.

During this, the second week of training, the existing boys found their own individual style of playing, while also being taken through the first steps of The Snooker Gym Training System, designed by the national snooker coach Nic Barrow.

Each of the seven levels in the programme has practice and tasks in the main areas of the game.

Making the Red level were five players, including Abdullah Ibrahim and 11-year-old Khalid Ali Kamali, while the Yellow certificate was earned by Ahmed Jassim Al Rais, Abdulrahman Saif Al Shamsi and Yasser Obaid Al Khayat.

"With the skills improving along with the growing enthusiasm, the boys are now starting to bring their friends along to join in the fun. We may be able to make a challenge to the National Team players sooner than expected," said national coach Barrow.

The camp will round off in the fourth week with a ranking tournament offering Givenchy gifts and cash prizes of Dh7,000 that will pit the new players against the top players.

Jassim Al Rais, General Secretary of the UAE BSA and Managing Director of Dubai Snooker Club, said: "The juniors look good on the table to me. We always have to increase the number of juniors we have in our training programmes. This training camp is an important step towards that direction."

Meena Chainani of Givenchy gave away gifts to all the players in the programme.

"I have always liked snooker and Al Rais has been proactively selling the idea of sponsoring the game for some time now. We are glad to have done so, as the training is proving very successful," Chainani said.

Training continues daily at the DSC from 4-6 pm for UAE locals and further information may be obtained either from coach Barrow (050-4569147) or DSC (04-3375338).