Banking on experience to pot it right

For Manan Chandra and Vidya Pillai, the national snooker crowns have arrived at the right moment

When former champions Manan Chandra and Vidya Pillai entered the Senior National Snooker Championship in Gwalior, little did they imagine they would go all the way once again. Although Chandra had some form coming into the tournament, his propensity to crack at the business end made him an underdog while Vidya’s time off from the green baize following motherhood last year was factor weighing against her.

Playing with very little expectations, the seasoned Chandra and Vidya started cautiously before discovering their old touch at the right time to gallop away with the titles in sizzling fashion.
Apart from doing their confidence a world of good and providing a major fillip to their careers, the victory also gives them the belief that their talent hasn’t eroded away and the hard work they put in is slowly bearing fruit.

From being considered as one of the brightest talents in the country when he won the National U-21 snooker crown thrice (1997, 1999, 2001) before finishing runner-up at the Asian U-21 bash in 2001, Chandra’s career hasn’t exactly moved in the direction he would have desired.

A naturally attacking player who can be a delight to watch with his clean and brisk potting, Chandra’s glory days have been few and far between. While he has seven titles to boot in the National pool championships, his exploits on the snooker scene, where he was tipped to excel, have been hugely disappointing.

Barring the 2006 National Snooker Championship where he emerged victorious, Chandra has often been in the shadow of the irrepressible Pankaj Advani and more recently Aditya Mehta. A superb striker of the ball, Chandra has been often found wanting in safety play that has proved his undoing in the business end against tougher opponents who give away very little.

Turning it around

“I realised I needed to do a few things differently but not alter my game completely,” a thrilled Chandra told Deccan Herald after the Gwalior triumph.

“I’ve been playing well in the last few years, but results have not been coming my way. In the last three editions I’ve been losing in the quarterfinals.

“So, my first goal this year was to clear the quarterfinal hurdle. I had a few butterflies in my stomach when Shivam (Arora) won the eighth frame (in the quarterfinals) to push the match into the decider. However, I believed in myself and hung in there before coming out unscathed. After that I knew I could go on and win the title.”

Chandra, who draws inspiration from the autobiographies of successful people, felt his win in last year’s Inter-Petroleum competition at Aizawl, Mizoram, played a big role in his turnaround. “In that event, both Pankaj and Aditya were there and for me to win it was a huge thing. As you know winning a petroleum tournament is as difficult as winning the nationals. Moreover, Pankaj and Aditya are currently playing on the professional circuit and are the best snooker players in the country.
“That gave me the confidence and self-belief and I’m just taking off from there. Moreover, I’ve curbed my attacking instincts a lot. I’ve realised only 100+ breaks don’t win you matches.

Sometimes you need to buckle down and play percentage snooker which I’ve been doing off late,” added the Delhiite, who will be celebrating his 32nd birthday on Feb 28.

Having rediscovered his winning ways, Chandra, whose wife Anuja is also a multiple national champion but has been off the circuit for nearly two years to take care of their daughter Ananya, has now trained his eyes on the two Asian meets this year. “The Asian Snooker Championship and Asian Indoor Games are two big events coming up. The worlds are at the end of the year. I’ve just started the second phase in my career and success in these would help me in a long way.”

Unlike Chandra, Vidya has been the flag-bearer of women’s cue sports in the country for a decade now and her success in Gwalior has just restored order. Ever since her maiden National snooker triumph in 2003, Vidya has been one of the most consistent performers on the circuit.

Forced to skip last year’s Nationals despite being the defending champion in snooker due to pregnancy, Vidya just showed what the circuit had missed, returning with a bang to annex her sixth snooker crown after falling short in billiards again.

Special victory

What made the Gwalior show special for Vidya, who has now made Karnataka her home after having represented Tamil Nadu since her debut, was the victory came with just a month’s practice.
“I wanted to train longer but with Surya (her one-year-old son), it’s almost impossible,” expressed Vidya. “I just had a month’s time to prepare and I squeezed in as much practice as I could in the limited time. I wasn’t expecting anything from the tournament and to have emerged victorious has left me speechless. Expectedly, I was a bit rusty during the course of the tournament, but in the end my experience carried me through.”

Just like Chandra, there are a few missing elements in Vidya’s resume which she is determined to piece together in the near future. For all her exploits on the snooker circuit, she is yet to win a National billiards title or a World title in any discipline.

“Not having won a billiards title hurts. Also, the world title is missing from my cabinet. I have two goals for the year – the Asian Indoor Games and World Snooker Championship. However, since I was off the circuit for a while I don’t know if I’ll get called up for the selections camps. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed.”

With plenty of action coming up this year, one just hopes Chandra and Vidya stay on top of their games, bolsterering the country’s chances.