As India’s most successful cueist, Pankaj Advani can certainly do no wrong. And after a masterful display in Adelaide on Sunday, when he demolished his opponent Peter Gilchrist in the final of the International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Billiards Championship to win a mind-boggling 14th world title, Advani thoroughly deserves all the praise he is getting.
But another reason to cheer went almost unnoticed. The women’s title was an all-India affair where a budding talent from Maharashtra Arantxa Sanchis defeated veteran Bengaluru cueist Revanna Umadevi Nagaraj. And though Indian media coverage of cue sports seems to invariably revolve around just Advani, more than a few Indian women have brought a fair share of glory to the tricolour in cue sports. Here’s a look at some of the top Indian female talent in the world of cue sports.
Rising star
Arantxa Sanchis (named after the former Spanish tennis great), hailing from Pune, is the rising star of Indian cue sports who has been making it a habit of punching above her weight and brushing aside more experienced opponents. In 2008, Sanchis set a national record by winning four titles at the National Championships in Indore. She also has two National women’s billiards titles in her kitty, winning twice in 2012 and 2015. And even on the world stage, Sanchis has enjoyed unprecedented success – she teamed up with Vidya Pillai to win gold at the World Snooker Championships in 2013 in Ireland.
And now with the title at Adelaide, nothing, it seems, can stop her. What makes Sanchis’ achievements even more laudatory is the fact that through her career, she has battled Keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, something that could have, very easily been a major stumbling factor in a sport where pinpoint accuracy is a necessity. But to her credit, Sanchis has battled on bravely and has not let the disease affect her. Like many other Indian sportsmen who do not have the luxury of coming from the glamorous world of cricket, all she needs is “a little appreciation.”
Late starter
And it’s not just Sanchis either, a little bit of appreciation is something which her opponent in the final Revanna Umadevi Nagaraj also deserves. Winner of the billiards and snooker world championships in 2012, Umadevi was a late starter – till the age of 30, she was just another government servant in Bengaluru. Umadevi would visit the Karnataka Government Secretariat Club to play table-tennis. But frustrated at having to wait at the table-tennis table, she started playing billiards at the adjacent table. The rest, as they say, is history – Umadevi started actively practising the game, juggling her passion with her job as well as her household work and soon went on to win title after title, being conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2009.
Of course, there were the usual problems women athletes in India have to deal with. “My family was opposed to it [going to a club]," she said in an interview to Indian Express in 2012. "We are middle-class, and there were many barbed comments because 'going to the club' is associated with drinking and other things." But it was that same family which turned up in full force to receive her at the airport when she returned home after being crowned the world champion at the Cambridge Snooker Centre in 2012.
And lastly, there is the story of Vidya Pillai, an eight-time women’s national snooker champion from Chennai, whose cause was put forward by Pankaj Advani himself. “...Our multiple-time national champion and 2013 World Championship gold medallist Vidya Pillai had applied for the Arjuna, but her achievements were not even considered,” Advani is reported to have said in an interview with DNA, “Why is there discrimination when it comes to selecting people for awards or making policies?” Apart from her impressive kitty of national titles, Pillai partnered Sanchis in 2013 where they jointly won the gold at the World Team Snooker Championships. This is in addition to three bronze medals she has won in other editions of the tournament.
Advani deserves to bask in the glory – without doubt, he has single-handedly ensured that cue sports finds representation in the Indian media space. But perhaps, it’s time these stalwarts also get their due for the glory they have brought to India on the world stage.
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But another reason to cheer went almost unnoticed. The women’s title was an all-India affair where a budding talent from Maharashtra Arantxa Sanchis defeated veteran Bengaluru cueist Revanna Umadevi Nagaraj. And though Indian media coverage of cue sports seems to invariably revolve around just Advani, more than a few Indian women have brought a fair share of glory to the tricolour in cue sports. Here’s a look at some of the top Indian female talent in the world of cue sports.
Rising star
Arantxa Sanchis (named after the former Spanish tennis great), hailing from Pune, is the rising star of Indian cue sports who has been making it a habit of punching above her weight and brushing aside more experienced opponents. In 2008, Sanchis set a national record by winning four titles at the National Championships in Indore. She also has two National women’s billiards titles in her kitty, winning twice in 2012 and 2015. And even on the world stage, Sanchis has enjoyed unprecedented success – she teamed up with Vidya Pillai to win gold at the World Snooker Championships in 2013 in Ireland.
And now with the title at Adelaide, nothing, it seems, can stop her. What makes Sanchis’ achievements even more laudatory is the fact that through her career, she has battled Keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, something that could have, very easily been a major stumbling factor in a sport where pinpoint accuracy is a necessity. But to her credit, Sanchis has battled on bravely and has not let the disease affect her. Like many other Indian sportsmen who do not have the luxury of coming from the glamorous world of cricket, all she needs is “a little appreciation.”
Late starter
And it’s not just Sanchis either, a little bit of appreciation is something which her opponent in the final Revanna Umadevi Nagaraj also deserves. Winner of the billiards and snooker world championships in 2012, Umadevi was a late starter – till the age of 30, she was just another government servant in Bengaluru. Umadevi would visit the Karnataka Government Secretariat Club to play table-tennis. But frustrated at having to wait at the table-tennis table, she started playing billiards at the adjacent table. The rest, as they say, is history – Umadevi started actively practising the game, juggling her passion with her job as well as her household work and soon went on to win title after title, being conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2009.
Of course, there were the usual problems women athletes in India have to deal with. “My family was opposed to it [going to a club]," she said in an interview to Indian Express in 2012. "We are middle-class, and there were many barbed comments because 'going to the club' is associated with drinking and other things." But it was that same family which turned up in full force to receive her at the airport when she returned home after being crowned the world champion at the Cambridge Snooker Centre in 2012.
And lastly, there is the story of Vidya Pillai, an eight-time women’s national snooker champion from Chennai, whose cause was put forward by Pankaj Advani himself. “...Our multiple-time national champion and 2013 World Championship gold medallist Vidya Pillai had applied for the Arjuna, but her achievements were not even considered,” Advani is reported to have said in an interview with DNA, “Why is there discrimination when it comes to selecting people for awards or making policies?” Apart from her impressive kitty of national titles, Pillai partnered Sanchis in 2013 where they jointly won the gold at the World Team Snooker Championships. This is in addition to three bronze medals she has won in other editions of the tournament.
Advani deserves to bask in the glory – without doubt, he has single-handedly ensured that cue sports finds representation in the Indian media space. But perhaps, it’s time these stalwarts also get their due for the glory they have brought to India on the world stage.