Mehta touches maximum level

Underlining his status as India’s finest snooker exponent at the moment, Aditya Mehta on Friday became the first cueist from the country to score the maximum break of 147 on foreign soil.

The 28-year-old from Maharashtra, who last October became the first Indian to reach the final of a pro-ranking event at the Indian Open in New Delhi, achieved the rare feat against Stephen Maquire at the Arcaden Paul Hunter Classic in Germany.

Although he lost the last-32 match 2-4 eventually, Mehta pocketed a cool £1,500 from the rolling 147 prize pot for European Tour events as long as the break is not equalled in the current tourney.

“It's an amazing feeling,” an ecstatic Mehta, who smashed the maximum in the third frame, told worldsnooker.com. “The balls opened up and I knew it was an opportunity by the time I was on 32. I’ve only made one 147 in practice and one in a match in India. I hoped one day I would be lucky enough to make one in a pro event and today it happened out of the blue,” added Mehta, currently ranked 49 in the world.

Mehta had earlier posted a 147 during the National selection camp in Bangalore last year. The previous best by an Indian on foreign land was from Manan Chandra, who made 146 at IBSF World Championship in 2004 in Holland.

Billiards supremo Geet Sethi too hit a 147 at the 1987 National Championships in Guntur.