JOIN USSibling race turned into Zubin’s craze for baize
Sibling rivalry, albeit a friendly one, is a common occurrence is many families. One always wants more love, affection and attention from parents than the other. Many a time, one always wants to outdo the other. This is how Zubin Zaheer, who this week won his maiden KSBA State-ranking Sub-junior snooker title, took up cue sports.
“I accompanied my brother Zimmer (Zaheer) to a snooker parlour a couple of years ago and saw how people applauded him whenever he played a good shot,” said Zubin, a 10th standard student of Bishop Cotton Boys School, in a chat with DH. “I was just a mute spectator. I felt a bit jealous and I wanted to outdo him. So I started to play with him and learnt the nuances of the sport from him. Very soon I fell in love with the sport and started spending more time at the parlour.”
Zubin, until then, was good at hockey and football and even represented his school in both disciplines. But the pursuit of beating his brother saw Zubin, 15 years old, lose interest in field sports and spend more time at Q Stix parlour in Frazer Town. Zubin’s father Aftab Zaheer, a cosmetics manufacturer and seller, enrolled his son at the KSBA under MG Jairam last year. Zubin then started to pay more attention to cue sports which resulted him in being crowned the Sub-junior champion.
“This is just the perfect start for me. Last year I lost out in the group phase itself but trained for at least 3-4 hours on a regular basis for this edition. It was hard to convince my folks because I’m in my 10th grade, a year when everything takes a back seat. I’ve taken a month break from school and I needed to make that gamble count. Winning the title has given me a lots of confidence.”
Zubin’s next target is the National Championship early next year, despite the event being very close to Board exams. “There’s no question of me giving the nationals a miss. It’s going to be my maiden campaign and I’m really looking forward to it. A good show there will give me a major boost. I’ll study hard until then and study hard after the nationals. My school has also been very supportive and I’m sure they’ll help me out again.”