The Minister for Sport and Leisure, Steven Linares, has today announced that, as part of the policy to develop tourism through sports and leisure events, arrangements have been completed for Gibraltar’s first Backgammon Festival.

The event will be held between the 14th and 20th October 2013. On 14th and 15th a local qualifying event will be organised by a group of local backgammon enthusiasts, working to develop backgammon in Gibraltar. The venue selected by them is Latino’s at Casemates.

The International event, officially recognised as part of the European Backgammon Tour, will be held at the Caleta Hotel from 17th to 20th October and will be organised by Matchpoint Tours and the European Backgammon Tour in partnership with the Gibraltar Sports and Leisure Authority. In this first event it is already predicted that between 50 and 80 European Tour backgammon players will be participating, together with local qualifiers and other players who will be offered the opportunity to participate at any of the different levels of the Festival.

The Backgammon Festival will be sponsored by the Ministry for Sport and Leisure and local businesses. It is hoped to make this an annual event with other smaller competitions and training/coaching events throughout the year in order to foster and develop Backgammon in Gibraltar.

Further information may be obtained through the European Backgammon Tour website, the Gibraltar Backgammon Facebook page or the Matchpoint Tours website.