Bangalore: It was a year of green baize glory for Karnataka cueists, especially the women. Among the men, Pankaj Advani continued his impressive run on the professional snooker circuit. But the spotlight this year was clearly on two women and a teenager from Bengaluru.
The cradle of cue sports, the Karnataka State Billiards Association has produced many champions over the years and the year gone by was no different but the highlight of the season was the many firsts recorded by the state cueists.
Teen talent Varshaa Sanjeev at 16, became the youngest to represent the country at the World Team Snooker Championship. She made her debut in style, winning a bronze in her maiden international appearance teaming up with fellow Bengaluru cueist and seasoned-pro Chitra Magimairaj at Carlow, Ireland.
Completing the talented threesome is Vidya Pillai. The mother of one, who made the city her home a couple of years ago after marriage, has had a golden run this season.
On the domestic circuit she won both the national women’s snooker and the 6-Red snooker titles. She went on to prove her prowess on the international stage, winning a gold in the doubles event at Carlow.
“2013 has been a really good year for me. I performed well at the international level but not up to the mark at the national level and state ranking. There have been ups and downs. I am hoping that the color of the medal changes next year from bronze to silver or even better gold,” said Vidya.
In terms of international success, Chitra, the most seasoned among the three had the best year, winning three medals from three outings.
She started her year with a third-place finish at the Asian Indoor Games at Incheon, South Korea and after her exploits in Carlow, she signed off for the year with another bronze, this time at the IBSF World Snooker Champion held in Daugavpils, Latvia held in December.
Speaking about the year gone by, Chitra said, “This year has been a fabulous year. I have won two snooker titles, winning the gold medal which has been special.
The year has treated me well. 2014 is looking up too and it should be special with the Worlds taking place at home. So am going into next year taking a lot of positives from 2013.”
With a bagful of medals and trophies to their credit in the season gone by, the green baize queens hope to up their levels of achievement in the year to come.
