Chennai to revive its tryst with big-ticket billiards & snooker

CHENNAI: CHENNAI’S cue sports community is gripped by the excitement of the ongoing 90th National Billiards & Snooker Championships that runs until Christmas and will witness the participation of the cream of the country’s talent, including Pankaj Advani who won a record 26th IBSF world title in Doha last week.

The city has a long and illustrious history with the sport, and it was here that the legendary Geet Sethi famously announced his arrival on the national stage in 1981-82 with a treble of crowns – junior and senior billiards and junior snooker.

The southern metropolis last staged a National Championship (in 6-Red Snooker) in 2017, but this is the first time that the sport’s state body is conducting the billiards and snooker Nationals in its entirety – 15 events comprising men, women, Masters and Under-18 and Under-21 boys and girls, with over 1200 cueists battling for honours.

“It’s been our committee’s dream to conduct a Nationals of this magnitude. It’s a 35-day-long tournament and has got off well largely due to the support of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India, the sponsors and all the members involved,” BG Muralidharan, President, Tamil Nadu Billiards & Snooker Association (TNBSA), said.

The 38-year-old Muralidharan, who owns a chain of snooker parlours in the city, has breathed youthful enthusiasm into the TNBSA administration since being elected as its President in 2022, although he took up cue sports seriously only a decade ago.

“Cricket was my first love, and I played age-group, collegiate and first division but had to give up due to injury. I tried snooker by chance, when on an evening out with friends, but soon got interested in the game and that’s how I opened QBG (snooker parlours),” he recalled.

Having been involved with the running of QBG since 2016, Muralidharan said he has noticed abundant talent among youngsters, but also realized the limited opportunities they have owing to the infrastructure required by cue sports unlike popular outdoor activities like cricket, volleyball and football.

“That’s one of the reasons I took up administration, in the hope of making a difference. We need to reach out to more schools and universities, that’s how cricket developed in the country,” he stated.

“We hope this Nationals helps further popularize cue sports in the city and enables youngsters to draw inspiration by watching India’s top talent up close,” he concluded.