Snooker players from all across the United States are assembling in Seattle for the 2022 United States National Snooker Championship, where they will compete for the brand new The Tom Kollins Trophy at Ox Billiards from September 2 - 5.

Tom Kollins, who passed away in June 2020, aged 84, was a five-time United States National Snooker Champion, and was a very recognizable and popular figure wherever he played snooker around the world representing the United States.

He was also dedicated to the sport's development in the United States, where he served on the Board of the United States States Snooker Association (USSA) as Vice-President, and will forever be remembered as a true legend of the sport in this nation.

It is an honor for snooker in the United States and for this Championship that the trophy has been donated by the British sports promoter and President of the World Snooker Tour, Barry Hearn, and also by the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA).

It will also be an honor that Tom's son, Tommy Kollins, will be at Ox Billiards to help present the trophy named in memory of his father to the 2022 Champion.

The top seed in this Championship is the six-times and defending champion Ahmed Aly Elsayed, who is making the journey to Seattle from his home in Brooklyn, NY. After his victory in last year's Championship at the New York Athletic Club, Aly took the record for the most number of Championship victories from Kollins.

The seedings are based on performances in the previous three Championships, with the number two seeded player being Raymond Fung who lost to Aly in last year's semifinals, though has better memories of his encounters with his fellow Brooklynite after he defeated him in the final of the 2017 Championship.

The number three seeded player is the twice former champion Ajeya Prabhkar from California who lost 5-0 to Aly in last year's final, while Seattle's very own Cheang Ciing Yoo is the number four seeded player, with Yoo's best performance in this Championship coming back in 2019 when he was defeated in final by Aly in Houston, Texas.

The Championship will be played using an initial round-robin Group format of best-of-three-frame matches played on September 2 & 3, with the Group winner and runner-up advancing into the round of 16 knockout stage. The knockout matches will be played over September 4 & 5.

Alan Morris, the Executive Director of the USSA, commented: "I would like to offer my gratitude to Mike Dominguez for all the great work and investment he has put into Ox Billiards in making it a wonderful host for this year's Championship, offering the very highest Championship playing conditions with their four professional standard Star Tournament tables.

"I would also like to thank the players for their enthusiasm and commitment to wanting to compete, as this year's entry filled up very quickly. We could have had many more entries though we had to restrict the numbers due to table availability."

Morris concluded: "I would also like to show my appreciation to Barry Hearn and to Jason Ferguson, the Chairman of the WPBSA, for their generosity and interest in seeing snooker grow and develop in the United States, for the donation of the fabulous new Championship trophy."

Snooker fans in the United States and around the world will be able to keep up-to-date with all the events from Seattle with live scoring and streaming, and reports will appear here on SnookerUSA.com.