JOIN USBSFI president's top priority is pro snooker
Newly elected Billiards and Snooker Federation of India president S Balasubramaniam said one of his top priorities is to get more players to graduate to the professional level, saying that’s the only way the sport can grow in the country.
While India has produced multiple world champions in snooker and billiards, it’s been predominantly at the amateur level with barely any success on the professional front. Current generation stars Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta did try their hand in the gruelling world of professional snooker in the United Kingdom but eventually dropped out for various reasons. Most don’t even venture into the territory owing to the exorbitant cost involved in playing on the pro tour.
“The actual snooker is being played at the professional circuit and that’s where the money is,” said Balasubramaniam in a candid interaction. “Today, sadly there’s just one Indian player there — Himanshu Jain. Going by the size of our country, going by the number of players we have, we should be looking at having at least 20 players in the top 128 of the pro circuit. That is something we have to set out to achieve.
“For that, we need to have basic infrastructure, like the tables and cloth that they are using. We should be able to fund players to go abroad and train. I feel this is far, far important for us in taking the game forward. Youngsters on the junior circuit are very keen on playing in the pro circuit. Unless we are there on the pro circuit, this game is not going to go anywhere. You continue like this (amateur level) and it’ll remain like this for many, many years. If you have to move forward, it has to be in the professional direction.”
Balasubramaniam, who served two terms each as vice-president and secretary of BSFI before being elected to the top post last week, said the federation is also trying hard to get the Indian Open — the country’s only pro event — back. “We are working on the Indian Open. Last time when we spoke to the officials of World Snooker, we told them we wanted to get the league back with pro players involved in it. If we have more players on the pro circuit, then the job of hosting the Indian Open and the league with pro players becomes slightly easier. It can’t only be foreigners coming and amateurs from here competing. The target is to get back Indian Open in 12-18 months.”
Balasubramaniam also said the federation has inked a five-year deal with Sage University in Indore to host the nationals. “It was becoming harder with every passing year for a city to host nationals. Entries were increasing, the duration of the nationals got longer, it was just becoming an expensive affair. With the kind of government grant we get, it was far too expensive for any state to host the nationals. We have sorted that out by signing a deal with Sage University. They will host the nationals across all categories for the coming five years.”