BHUBANESWAR 15-Jun-2011 147
With cueists from Bhubaneswar winning national titles in billiards and snooker, cuesports seem to have gained acceptance in smaller cities and towns of India. ``It`s a welcome sign that now a days youngsters are showing lot of interest for billiards and snooker and the sport has started finding footholds in smaller cities like Bhubaneswar and Guwahati,`` agrees nine-time world champion Geet Sethi, who was in Bhubaneswar last week to present the trophies at the 1st BSA East Zone Open Snooker Tournament.
It is not that Bhubaneswar is completely new to the green baize game. Thanks to Bhubaneswar Club, the Temple City hosted National Billiards and Snooker Championships in 1996 and the World Billiards Championship the following year. Nalco not only sponsored these events but also recruited a cueist (Ahsan-ul Haque) from West Bengal on the occasion. The kick-start paid good dividend as Amrita Mohapatra became the first cueist of the city and the state to reach the women`s billiards final twice in the National championship (1998-99). Of course, the sport went into hibernation for some years as the Billiards and Snooker Association of Orissa (BSAO) failed to maintain the momentum.
However, the initiative of a cue sport lover, who injected new blood into BSAO, and a passionate cueist, who worked hard to execute the programmes of the state body, the sport has salvaged its status in time. The lover of the sport is Srimoy Kar, who now functions as the un-official secretary of BSAO, while Subrat Das, the cueist, reigns as the undisputed state champion in both billiards and snooker. The results of the duo`s diligent effort have been immense. The most important was that the infrastructure facility improved noticeably with the setting up of private or commercial clubs and academies in twin city Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
Especially, Bhubaneswar-based Cue Sport Academy (CSA) has been rendering yeomen service, inspiring school and college students take to the sport and hosting state championship as well as prize-money tournaments every year since its inception in 2009. ``The objective of CSA is to encourage youngsters play billiards and snooker at an affordable price and make Orissa a force to reckon with in the cue sports map of the country. Despite several handicaps, the academy has lived up to its promises so far,`` says CSA president Premanshu Sekhar Patnaik.
Another private organisation to promote cue sports in the state is Billiards and Snooker Academy (BSA), which set new milestone by hosting a lucrative zonal snooker tournament earlier last month. The tournament, offering a prize fund of Rs 1.5 lakh, not only attracted cream of cueists from eastern India, but also Geet Sethi, the country`s living legend as the chief guest of the closing function. Sourav Kothari beat his fellow PSPB cueist and three-time junior National champion Shahbaaz Adil Khan in the exciting final to win the title and the top prize of Rs 50,000.
With youngsters, especially from schools, colleges and universities showing interest for the sport, the player base in the state has almost doubled in the last five years. Another welcome sign is that wide publicity in the media has helped generate some amount of sponsorship for both for tournaments and cueists of the state.
More importantly, the overall effort has enabled Orissa put up modest performance in the National championships, where it matters. Kunal Agarwal finished runner-up in 2007 under-19 and 2008 Junior National Billiards Championships. Kunal`s younger sister Priyanka followed suit by reaching the finals in National sub-junior girls billiards event once and junior girls billiards category twice within a period to two years (2008-2009).
School boy Ashutosh Padhy, created history by becoming Orissa`s first ever sub-junior National billiards champion at Pune last year. Bhubaneswar lad Ashutosh and Cuttack teenager Chirag Arora, who also did well in the last Nationals, are tipped to fetch greater laurels for the state as well as the country in the future.
In the senior category, Subrat Das dreams to win titles both in Asian and World championships. He not only has an intense desire but also works hard to realise his dreams. ``My immediate goal is to secure a place among top eight cueists of the country. That will give me an opportunity to represent the country in international meets,`` says Das, who has collected eight state titles so far.
Originally a cricketer, Das took to cue sports after suffering an injury. After learning the basics at Kolkata he has been representing Orissa in National championships since 2002. His achieved his best in the National championship by reaching quarterfinals both in junior snooker and billiards categories in 2003. Nishant Biswal, Jeet Kishore and Rakesh Roshan Pradhan are other cueists, who, the state cue sports fraternity believes, have the talent to make a mark at the national stage.
Amidst the rosy scenario, however, lies a thorny reality. Despite being a new of the country, Orissa is still struggling arrange adequate infrastructure, coaching facilities and sponsorship for its cueists. Subrat Das, the international prospect, is still unemployed even though he is full-time cueists and a commerce graduate as well. ``I need sponsorship support to play open tournaments and realise my goals. Give me the minimum support, I assure the state to win a major title in two years,`` says a confident Subrat, who ekes out his living through prize money he earns from tournaments and part-time coaching, he imparts.
It is unfortunate that the State Government, Public Sector Undertakings and big corporate houses spend liberally for promotion of lesser-known and less-productive sports, but ignore cuesports in which the country has a glorious history. For example, Nalco has been paying a fat salary to a cueist, who is no more eligible to compete in the National championship, but is not taking into consideration appeals of current achievers for employment or sponsorship. In case of state government, it has not given absolutely no support to cue sports for the over a decade. The best thing the Naveen Patnaik government can do is to allot a complex for cue sports at Kalinga Stadium or some other place in the capital city.
