Pool no longer just a bar sport

Innocent Kurira , Sports Reporter

GONE are the days when the game of pool used to be just a hotel and bar sport. The game has gained popularity over the years. To some it is just a pastime. Others have turned to it for survival, people flood betting houses to make money to pay bills.

Of late, the game of pool has even moved a gear up. It has evolved to be a professional sport with organised leagues and international competitions. This game of billiards, popularly known in Zimbabwe as pool, has a long and rich history, It’s been played by kings, commoners, presidents, ladies, gentlemen and hustlers.
History has it that pool began as a lawn game similar to the croquet played sometime during the 15th century in Northern Europe.

From that point, the game evolved to its present-day style of using the billiards or pool table. The rules have also been altered to suit the changing times.
In Zimbabwe, the game became visible in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since then, it has grown. Pool tables were previously seen in bars and hotels but now they are everywhere.
Zimbabwean pool champion Hillary Mukamuri (44) says it’s time the game is even introduced in schools as it is now a profession just like any other sport. Mukamuri has won numerous national and international tournaments.

In 2016, he won the South African Black Ball Pool Singles Championship at the colourful Carnival City in Johannesburg South Africa.
He was part of the 10 Zimbabweans invited to the tournament which pitted over 120 participants and lasted for more than two weeks. For his efforts he walked away with R5000,00, a trophy, and more importantly a sponsored trip to the World Pool Championships in Ireland. The tournament is widely regarded as the biggest pool tournament in Africa and drew the best pool players from South Africa.

He also received accolades for overall top performer, most break and finish (2 out of 35 frames), and most wins per player and All Africa pool championships bronze medallist.
Since then, Mukamuri popularly known as “Bhudi” has become a household name in the pool circles.
“I started playing pool in 1999, at that time the game was not popular in Zimbabwe so I had my first serious encounter with the sport in Botswana. In Botswana I then realised this is actually a sport, not just a recreational activity,” says Mukamuri.

“In Zimbabwe it took us some time to recognise this was actually a sport. At the age of 20 I visited Botswana on business. I would travel to the neighbouring country to sell sculptures. At that time I had developed a love for the game via playing pool video games and I was good at those.
“I had only had my first experience of playing on a proper pool table at a hotel in Kadoma. My next would be in Botswana where I got adopted by an American called coach Jimmy,” says Mukamuri.

Mukamuri owes all his success in the game of pool to the American coach.
“After I was done with my work I would go to this pool arcade where Coach Jimmy had some players he was training. I would spend my time after work playing pool, buying up to 50 playing tokens. That is when the coach spotted my love for the game and how good I was. He was left with no choice but to incorporate me as one of his students.
“He gave me accommodation for at least two years.

Coach Jimmy encouraged me to leave my business after asking me how much I earned and he said ‘I will give you the money you make monthly only if you play pool.’ He gave me a cottage at his place of residence. From there I was serious about pool.
“He kept encouraging me to study the game because he felt I had natural talent. I had a personal table and pool table and stick and I would practice every day. I trained for about six months,” says Mukamuri.

“Then I played a national tournament in Botswana and I won it. This was a monthly tournament. The next year 2021 I played a few months without winning before winning the competition five months in a row.
“From there he tried to have me get Botswana citizenship but the idea did not go well with me. I asked him if I could come back home and talk to my family before making a decision and when I came back, I learned there was a league in Zimbabwe founded in 1998 and I did not know about. From then the sport has been growing.”

“I believe this is the time we really should take this sport seriously because this game has grown to be a sport just like any other which can sustain one’s life. As I stand here I am a testimony of that.
“I have managed to take care of my family and grow my business at the same time. The game has developed. We have more than 6 000 players now playing the game professionally and making a living off the game. The sport must be taken seriously and introduced in schools such that we nurture young talent and these will go on to represent the country.

Bulawayo Province Pool Association public relations officer Osbournewells Dziko agrees with the idea.
“The game has grown over the years. The country now needs to embrace the sport and give it the seriousness it deserves. The mentality around the game must change from this being just a bar or backroom game but a sport,” said Dziko.