New York City players Ahmed Aly Elsayed, the defending champion, and Raymond Fung will make snooker history in the United States today as their round of 16 tie in this year's United States National Snooker Championship at the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California, will be the first ever match to be streamed live on the internet from the Championship.

Fung, winner of four events on the just completed 2011-12 USSA Tour and the runner-up in this Championship back in 2004, would not have expected to have played Aly in the round of 16, but the winner of his group was drawn to play the runner-up of Group A and Aly's defeat by Jack Kung relegated him to second place.

The live stream will commence as the round of 16 matches start at 12:00pm PDT / 3:00pm EDT in the United States (7:00pm GMT), and can be viewed here on the SnookerUSA.com website:
» Live stream link

Former champion Kung, who stroked in a break of 68 during his group matches, advances into the round of 16 to compete against Chicago's Vaishal Talati, a quarterfinalist in last year's Championship.

The 2000 Champion and number two seeded player in the group phase Ajeya Prabhakar, who has been runner-up in two of the past three Championships, has secured yet another round of 16 appearance where he will play Championship newcomer Shashidhar Pasupulati of California.

All credit must go to the five-time former champion Tom Kollins who has yet again battled his way to the knockout phase where he will face Kwan Wai Kon, while many eyes will be focused on the progress of the Event 13 winner on the 2011-12 USSA Tour, Sargon Isaac, who looked very impressive to top his group and will take on Washington state's Cheang Ciing Yoo in the round of 16.

The round of 16 has also conjured up a tie of former Championship runners-up which should prove to be an intriguing contest, as Romil Azemat of Arizona, who lost in the 2006 final, will match up against the 2008 finalist, Jian Qiang Wang of New York.

The complete round of 16 draw is as follows:

Round Of 16 (Best-of-5-frames)
Match ID	Player		Player
K1	Jack Kung (California)	vs.	Vaishal Talati (Illinois)
K2	Ernst Bezemer (Texas)	vs.	Michael Chan (California)
K3	Kwan Wai Kon (California)	vs.	Tom Kollins (Illinois)
K4	Sargon Isaac (California)	vs.	Cheang Ciing Yoo (Washington)
K5	Ajeya Prabhakar (California)	vs.	Shashidhar Pasupulati (California)
K6	Alex Kopel (California)	vs.	Jeff Szafransky (California)
K7	Raymond Fung (New York)	vs.	Ahmed Aly Elsayed (New York)
K8	Romil Azemat (Arizona)	vs.	Jian Qiang Wang (New York)

The winner and the runner-up from the Championship will gain automatic selection to represent the United States in this year's IBSF World Snooker Championship, which is to be held in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, from November 4-16.

Sponsors of the Championship include Tweeten Fibre Inc., manufacturers of some of the best known cue tips and chalk brands in snooker, and Saluc, manufacturer of Aramith Tournament Champion Snooker Balls, who have been a long-term supporter of snooker in the United States.