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The game of billiards and snooker will have a special place in the pantheon of Indian sport. India has won a whooping 22 world titles in billiards alone, a record unmatched by any sport in India.
India has annexed four women’s world crowns in billiards apart from three men’s snooker world titles. A slew of continental titles and Asian Games medals have placed India in a position of respect internationally.
Bengal’s contribution to India’s honours in this sport has been less than modest. Apart from the lone world title won by Manoj Kothari in 1990, Shyam Jagtiani’s senior National snooker title in 1989 was the lone saving grace.
Kothari’s triumph should have triggered a revolution in Bengal. But the system failed to realise the importance of the victory and there was hardly any notable promotion of the game in the State.
Apart from Hindustan Club, Bengal Rowing Club, Muslim Institute, Dalhousie Institute, among others, the contribution of three Y.M.C.A. Branches, College, Wellington and Chowringhee, was immense. In fact, Manoj was a product of the College branch.
Picks up momentum
After a lull for almost two decades starting in the 60s, the sport picked up momentum in early 80s when Bengal cueists began to hit the headlines.
Mukhopadhyay figured in the National billiards semi-finals with legendary stars Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi and Subhas Agarwal in 1981. Bengal had an excellent crop of young players like Shyam Jagtiani, Yusuf, Irfan Mirza, Manoj, Anil Poddar and Shakeel Ahmed, to name a few. Kothari was a cut or two above the rest.
After Kothari, another talent that emerged in Bengal was Rohit Rajgharia, who as the National junior snooker champion, was good enough to be the top seed in a world championship that was won by Ronnie O’ Sullivan of England.
Mohammad Asim was another player who did not realise the potential in him. After having beaten a player like Pankaj Advani in the juniors , Asim disappeared after representing India at the Busan Asian Games.
Now, among the present set of players, the most talented is Manoj’s son, Sourav Kothari. A lot will depend on Sourav, the national snooker runner-up in 2009; Brijesh Damani, the team silver medal winner at the Guangzhou Asian Games along with Aditya Mehta and Yashin Merchant; and former junior billiards and snooker national champion, Shahbaaz Adil Khan, to guide Bengal’s fortunes.
There is another youngster, Manish Jain, who is also shaping up well.
With a view to lifting the standard of the game in Bengal, Hindustan Club has begun a new snooker tournament, the Kolkata Open, from this year. The club also hosted the East India open successfully and promised to make the two a permanent fixture in the city’s sporting schedule.
Another local tournament, the ongoing Calcutta Invitational individual snooker, has been helping the next rung of players to hone their skills.
More club and State-level ranking tournaments are in the pipeline to light up the cue-sports scene. If the good work is continued over a period of time, Bengal will certainly regain the glorious days.
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