A PERSHORE restaurateur is appealing for sponsors to delve into their ‘pockets’ and help give both his sons the best ‘shot’ at realising their sporting dreams.
Hosoun Miah, who has run Jimmy Pickles Indian restaurant for 17 years, is looking to raise £50,000 to help fund costly snooker academy training for his sons Hamim and Halim.
The talented brothers, aged 21 and 20 from Small Heath in Birmingham, are rising stars on the British and international snooker circuits with a host of championship titles and trophies under their belts. Hamim also qualified as a WPBSA snooker coach last year in schools and colleges.
But ambitions of making it on the professional stage could be in the balance unless their parents, who have already invested more than £200,000 in developing their careers, can pocket enough sponsorship to support the siblings’ snooker careers. They have just launched a Justgiving page to raise the £50,000 needed.
“I first gave them a small snooker table when they were just two and three years old and they never looked back,” said Hosoun. “Then as teenagers it all became very serious and being able to compete against one another helped bring them on. They are extremely competitive with one another.”
Hamim comprehensively beat four-times world champion John Higgins in an exhibition match recently and just this month achieved the maximum 147 break.
He is currently enrolled in a snooker academy in Sheffield but both brothers are working hard to break through into the top rankings required for entering professional competitions.
Hosoun added: “Obviously, developing a career in this most demanding of sports is costly. Simply attending tournaments and gaining ranking points requires time and expense for the boys to travel and stay away from home.
“Clothing and equipment also see the costs mounting. A typical season costs in excess of £12,000 to allow competition at all significant events.
“We are struggling to keep supporting Hamim with his living expenses and Halim also has aspirations to get a place at the academy, and we want to enable them to take that last stride to becoming fully professional snooker players.
“They are both knocking on the door and are highly rated by the sport’s governing body, but we need help to keep them moving forwards.”
“The whole family is mad about snooker and I too was a great player in my day. I have lots of tournament trophies to my name but couldn’t make it to professional level because I didn’t have the financial backing – but I want to fulfil my dream through my sons.
“They both have immense talent and experience and are very close to becoming professionals and I’d hate for financial constraints to get in the way of those dreams.”
Go online to www.just giving.com/crowdfunding/michael-rigby-2?utm_term=6ePa9N44R or e-mail [email protected] for more.
