In what marks a huge step forward for snooker throughout the Americas, the United States Snooker Association (USSA) has been invited to participate in the first ever World Snooker and International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) recognized Pan-American Snooker Championship, which will take place at the Club de Tenis in the Bolivian city of La Paz from January 27-30, 2015.

It has been a very long process for the USSA to finally gain recognition from the Pan-American Billiard Confederation (CPB), the governing body for billiard sports throughout the Americas, of which was achieved through the USSA's affiliation to the American CueSports Alliance (ACS) which represents both snooker and carom in the United States.

It is also very significant for the sport of snooker to at last achieve continental representation throughout the Americas with the international snooker governing bodies of the IBSF, the world amateur governing body, and also World Snooker, who govern the professional game through the World Snooker Tour.

It is with this recognition from World Snooker that the winner of the 2015 Pan-American Snooker Championship will be awarded a two-year Tour card to compete as a professional on the multimillion dollar World Snooker Tour from the 2015-16 season, and will also be invited to go to Sheffield, England, to play in the qualifying rounds of the 2015 World Snooker Championship in April of next year.

The chairman of the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA), Jason Ferguson, commented on the World Snooker website: "This is an important step forward in terms of the globalization of our sport. The staging of a Pan-American Championship will encourage participation in snooker in the Americas and there is a fantastic incentive, with a place in the World Championship qualifying rounds as well as a two-year World Snooker Tour card at stake.

"One of our ultimate goals is for snooker to be included in the Olympics, and a strong presence in the Americas will complete our set of Olympic rings. I'd like to congratulate everyone who has worked hard to organize this event and I anticipate it being a great success."

The organizer of the Championship is the Bolivian Billiard Federation, who also announced that a qualifying round will be played on January 26 prior to the main event commencing the following day.

The SnookerUSA.com website will report on all further developments in regard to this momentous new snooker Championship, which begins an exciting new dawn for the sport throughout the Americas.