England's Kevin Tunstall will again be aiming for one of the top prizes this weekend

DESPITE the withdrawal of funding from Jersey Tourism this year’s Bar Billiards World Championship has undergone somewhat of a makeover.

Not only does it have new financial backers but it has moved to a bigger, and better, venue with almost 200 competitors now set to descend on the Merton Hotel this week to challenge for the world titles on offer.

Publicity officer Nigel Bisson said: ‘It was disappointing to lose the sponsorship of Jersey Tourism but they have supported us for quite some time. It was simply the case that they have less money to go around and they had to pull the plug on some events and we were unfortunately one of the ones whose plug was pulled.’

Now wealth management experts Spearpoint have taken over as main sponsors and they are joined with support from the Merton Hotel, Neville Ahier and Son, and local players Dave Jones and Jackie Clark.

The action begins at 7.30 pm on Friday with the World Pairs event which is fully subscribed with all 64 playing spots filled.