The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is the organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world. The organization is presently headquartered in Reims, France.

In 1971 the World Billiards and Snooker Council was formed, changing its name in 1973 to the International Billiards and Snooker Federation. The name change came about because of the dissatisfaction of many overseas national associations that the Billiards and Snooker Control Council (then the Billiards Association and Control Council) should be the governing body of both the English domestic game and the game at international level. Consequently, the IBSF took control of the organisation of the non-professional championships of both snooker and billiards.

The IBSF is made up of over sixty affiliated countries categorized into one of the five Olympic regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

The IBSF Board of Directors has four executive officers, namely the President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, plus two representatives from each Olympic Region. These four executive officers are responsible for the day to day running of the Federation and are answerable to IBSF members at the Annual General Meeting. The IBSF AGM is normally held during the period of the IBSF World Snooker Championships.

Pankaj Arjan Advani (Sindhi: पंकज आडवाणी, lang-ur; Kannada: ಪಂಕಜ್ ಅಡ್ವಾಣಿ) (born 24 July 1985 in Pune) is an Indian Billiards and Snooker player. A winner of seven World Titles in Billiards and Snooker, he is considered to be the one of the best Billiards Player India has produced. In 2005, he set a world record by becoming the first player to complete a grand double by winning both the points format as well as the time format titles in the IBSF World Billiards Championship, Malta. For his commendable performance as a Billiards and Snooker player, and his invaluable contribution to the nation through the laurels he brought home he has been honoured with a number of prestigious awards, having been bestowed the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009, The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, which was conferred on him in 2006 and the Arjuna Award in 2004.

Pankaj Advani was born on July 24, 1985 in Pune. Pankaj spent his initial years in Kuwait before moving to Bangalore. He received his education at the Frank Anthony Public School, Bangalore and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Mahaveer Jain College, Bangalore. He received training in snooker from former national Snooker champion Arvind Savur.

Michael Judge was a professional snooker player from the Republic of Ireland. He has not won a ranking event, coming closest in the 2004 Grand Prix, where he reached the semi-finals after victories over Mark Williams among others. His first ranking quarter-final was at the 1997 British Open

He has qualified for the World Championship three times, his best performance coming in the 2001 tournament, after knocking Jimmy White out in qualifying and John Parrott in the first round, before being knocked out by fellow Dubliner Ken Doherty. He lost to eventual champion Peter Ebdon in the first round a year later. He has lost in the final qualifying round on seven occasions, a record [1].

In 2006/2007 he had something of a return to form, climbing 10 places in the rankings to #34, after five successive falls from his career high of #24, aided by a last 16 run in the Welsh Open. He then reached the last 16 of the Grand Prix early in the 2007/2008 season, and repeated this at the Welsh Open in Newport, by beating Nigel Bond and Graeme Dott, both 5–4, before succumbing to a 5–2 defeat by Stephen Lee. He did enough in the rest of the season to return to the top 32 of the rankings. However, he slipped straight back out the following season after two last sixteen runs were tempered by six first round defeats. In January 2010 he qualified for the Welsh Open, losing to John Higgins in the first round proper. He quit after the following season.

Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Persian: حسین وفایی ایوری‎, born September 14, 1994 in Abadan, Iran) is a Iranian professional snooker player. He is the first and the only Iranian professional snooker player in the history of the game.

As his first international tournament, he participated in 2009 World Under-21 Amateur Snooker Championship in Kish, Iran. He could reach the round of 16 where he lost to Liu Chuang with the score of 3-5.

He participated in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in the snooker singles competition and reached the round of 16.

In December 2010, He participated in the 2010 World Amateur Snooker Championship in Damascus, Syria. He could reach the round of 16 where he lost to Leo Fernandez with the score of 1-5.

In April 2011, he reached the final of 2011 ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship in Kish, Iran. He reached the final but lost lost it to Cao Yupeng from China with the score of 3-7. As a result he couldn't enter the 2011-12 World Snooker Tour.

In the end of April 2011, he participated in 2011 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship in Indore, India. However, he could not advance to the Knock-out Stage from the Group Stage. He competed in Group C, and got the fifth place with one win and 3 losses.