SINGAPORE – Over a year after its grand opening in June 2022, the Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Academy (Rossa) at Turf City’s The Grandstand will shutter its operations on Sunday, with the closure leaving the local cue sports community in limbo.

The lease for the 16,000 sq ft facility expires at the end of 2023 and is not up for renewal as The Grandstand has been slated for residential developments.

The academy’s technical director, Jason Colebrook, 70, said it has been searching for new premises since March, but will take a hiatus to focus on packing up the equipment.

“We may start searching again next year but as the cost of storage is quite high, we may be prepared to sell things and then start from scratch again,” he added.

“It’s a real shame. Players were begging us to find a way to continue.”

Launched on June 11, 2022 by seven-time world champion and world No. 1 O’Sullivan, the venue has 12 snooker tables and 16 pool tables and its closure is a big loss for Singapore’s cue sports community.

Besides providing world-class facilities, it has also hosted many tournaments – 28 in 2022 – that helped develop local players.

Seven-gold SEA Games billiards champion Peter Gilchrist, 55, said: “I couldn’t believe it when (the academy) first came to Singapore. There are a few other nice centres in Singapore but nothing compared to this, with World Championship-quality tables.

“You can see the improvement in local players, standards have gone up quite a bit. I’ve got people coming up to me and asking where they should play now.”

One of them is competitive snooker player Derrick Koh, 42.

“Since Rossa was launched, there have been many new faces that joined the community,” said Koh, who works as a senior account manager.

“We have developed a kind of bonded relationship with one another and everyone has shared emotions. These rich memories we have all experienced together make it feel like the end of an era.”

While Koh will still continue training at other venues like Toa Payoh’s Snooker Zone, he believes the community will not be as united as no other facility matches up to Rossa.

For other recreational players like Jasdeep Heer, who is an academy member, the closure disincentivises them from playing the sport.

Heer, 40, said: “It’s a big loss for Singapore snooker. Other clubs simply don’t have the same quality of tables and parking is also an issue elsewhere.

“On Oct 8, I will have to empty my locker. I was positively looking for a last-minute resolution but that does not seem likely.”

But Cuesports Singapore president Christopher Chuah, 62, hopes Rossa’s closure will be a temporary disruption.

He said: “They have been partnering us to organise many ranking events. In that sense it will be a loss to the cue sports community. In light of this announcement, we will see how we can reach out to other venue partners to continue these events.”

Besides hosting tournaments such as the World Billiards Championship and Fantasy Snooker Series, the academy also provided scholarships to former national snooker player Jaden Ong and national pool player Sharik Sayed.

The scholarships will be terminated and Chuah said Cuesports Singapore will explore ways to support the talented duo financially and beyond, with the hope they can eventually be awarded Sport Singapore’s Sport Excellence (Spex) scholarship.

However, Colebrook, who is an Australian citizen, will have his work pass revoked after the shutdown. This means he will not be able to continue as coach of the national billiards team – the role was part of his contract with Rossa.

He told The Straits Times: “The squad are very worried about what happens next. I’m married to a Singaporean, so I’ve got a long-term visit pass to stay, but I can’t work with that.

“We’re just not quite sure what’s going to happen.”

Former pool No. 1 Aloysius Yapp, who won the Yu Ba Fang Royal Pool Series Finale held at Rossa in 2022, expressed shock at the impending closure.

He said: “It was a good place for training and competitions for the local players. But at the same time, there are a couple of new places coming up.”