Beating the ageing blues

The first Master Snooker National Championship for the men above 40 will be held in the city starting July 12. With about 40 participants, the championship that will take place over the span of five days and the sportsmen will compete in groups of five. 

“This is the first nationals and we are grateful to President Surendran and Secretary Ganesh for bringing it to Chennai,” says RB Ganesh, the chief referee for the upcoming tournament, who has also played in over 40 international snooker tournaments.

With the participation of already-famous international players like Alok Kumar, Rafat Habid, SA Saleem, Prem Prakash and more, the tournament is getting bigger each day. Revealing that the oldest player in the tournament is 66-year old Shyam Jagtiani, Ganesh adds, “Cue sports don’t have an age restriction. Snooker is something that you can play throughout your life. This tournament will declare the qualifiers for the World Championship.”

When asked what the most interesting thing about snooker is, former national champion Alok Kumar shares, “It is a game that requires a lot of mental stress but you need to keep fit too. One needs to exercise and keep healthy to have a fresh mind during the match. The match can last for 40 minutes or even up to six hours. But the player must not lose focus!” 

Talking about why the game keeps him young, Alok adds, “In our game, 50 is young. Snooker keeps us fit and younger looking. I travel for about 250 days in a year and I still coach young players. The love for the game keeps me going.”

Stating that the light on snooker is increasing gradually, Asian Gold Medalist Rafat Habib says, “The attention given to snooker is increasing slowly. More youngsters need to come to play cue sports. My father Syed Habib was a remarkable player and he encouraged me in every endeavor of mine. I stand strong and young at this age only because of his encouragement. I wish all parents do the same.”

Rafat Habid

With a demanding career like full-time sports, the cue sport champions add that their families are their biggest strengths. “When I was young, my mother and father were my pillars of support and now my wife fills that spot. She takes care of the kids while I’m away for most the year but supports by dream and I’m thankful to her for that,” says Alok   Kumar. “Snooker is not a common sport and I got in because of my father. He was my biggest source of inspiration. And my coach, Ethiraj trained me and my father as well,” shares Rafat.

Aiming big to achieve the World Championship, it’s the players’ dream that snooker will be part of Olympics someday. “Snooker was taken out of the Asian Games, but is part of the Indonesian Games! We want snooker and billiards to be a recognized game in Olympics. That way, more tournaments will be organised and more players will come to the limelight,” concludes Ganesh.