Athletes of the country are gearing up for the Asian Games. Preparation camps are going on and some of them are taking part in events overseas to sharpen their skills. The mission this time is to better the 2018 tally of 70 medals (16 gold, 23 silver, 31 bronze) — India’s best ever.
Quietly outside the ambit of Asian Games are the cue sports players. Billiards, snooker and shorter formats of the sport have not been a part of the quadrennial event after Guangzhou, China, 2010. These disciplines were introduced at the Thailand Games in 1998. In four editions, Indians cueists won four gold, five silver and six bronze medals.
A player who has a share of this success is Brijesh Damani. The Kolkata-based Damani was a part of the Indian team which won the silver in snooker 2010, with Aditya Mehta and Yasin Merchant. He also played a part in helping India win the snooker gold in the Asian team championship last month. A snooker specialist to begin with, he also fell for billiards and at the moment, Damani is ranked No 1 in billiards and No 3 in snooker in the country. Despite all his exploits, he misses the Asian Games. Also, he feels that a televised franchise-based league will help the sport grow.
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“It feels bad, but we realise that this is beyond our control. Ideally, every sportsperson wants to do well in every event. We are taking positive feedbacks. This year we have the World Championship coming up. Hopefully the federation and the Indian Olympic Association will do what needs to be done to get our sport back in the Asian Games. Till then, we will try to win as many medals as possible wherever we play,” Damani told RevSportz.
Still, he will miss the experience. “There are so many athletes, for so many disciplines, from so many countries. Everybody is staying at the same place. The environment is different. Plus, it’s an event held once in four years. So you channelize all your focus and energy towards that event and make sure that there are no hiccups when the moment arrives. It’s a special experience.”
Asian Championship snooker gold winner Brijesh Damani aims to shine on the global stage after missing out in the Asian Games.
Emphasize on the the need for a televised franchise-based league for the sport’s growth.@atreyom @lalbabarice @AMRIHospitals pic.twitter.com/9T4FY6KPqD
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) July 6, 2023
A table tennis player before he got lured by the charm of the green baize, the 40-year-old believes cue sports in India need the push which some of the franchise-based televised leagues featuring other sports have. “We had a league which started in 2018. I don’t know why it got shelved. But if the game has to go to the next level, we need a televised league. It’s an exciting sport to watch, it’s colourful. So kids will get attracted to it. I hope the federation will do something to get the televised league back. If the sport is not seen on TV, new players and youngsters will not take notice.”
Primarily a snooker player, who has also excelled in billiards, Damani’s other claim to fame is, he is only the second in India after the legendary Pankaj Advani to be placed among the elite eight in all three formats — snooker, billiards and six-reads. While he finds it difficult to explain what it means to him, Damani is looking to soothe the Asian Games pain with a good showing at the World Championships. The billiards part will be in Malaysia in September before India hosts the snooker part in October.
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