Expectations high on Indians at World Snooker

Flush with success this year, Indian cueists, led by Pankaj Advani, were brimming with confidence on the eve of the Seaways-IBSF World Snooker Championship commencing at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here Wednesday.

It is the fifth time that India is hosting the World Championship, having previously conducted the event in 1963 (Kolkata), 1987 (Bengaluru), 2009 (Hyderabad) and 2011 (Bengaluru), but the country has produced only two champions in late Om Bharadwaj Agarwal (1984, Dublin) and Advani (2003, China).

In the recent months, the Indian cueists, notably Advani, have delivered some strong results that justify high home expectations ahead of the snooker gala which concludes Nov 29.

The 29-year-old Advani, holder of 12 World titles and fellow-Bengalurean Vidya Pillai, the reigning women's national champion, are among title favourites in the men's and women's sections, respectively, while Welsh veteran and three times champion Darren Morgan will be the one to watch in the Masters category as he returns to the city where he had won the mena¿s crown in 1987.

Advani is high on confidence having won the double at the World Billiards championships after clinching the IBSF World 6-Reds snooker title and also the gold in the World team championship.

The men's field also includes entries from Thailand and China who can never be discounted in the title stakes, besides those from world snooker hub United Kingdom.

Among the lot is 17-year old Zhao Xintong who was runner-up to fellow-Chinese Zhou Yuelong last year in Latvia. Xintong has had some good outings this season as a wild card entry in two professional ranking tournaments, the Wuxi Classic and Shanghai Masters, reaching the pre-quarter-finals in both the events.

Another rising Chinese talent to follow is 14-year old Yan Bingtao who made it to the round of 32 in both Wuxi Classic and Shanghai Masters, also as a wild card entry.

No wonder then that Advani, who gave up his pro snooker ticket earlier this year when ranked 58 to focus on billiards, declared that there are many players who can win the title.

"It is a strong field and there are many players capable of winning the championship," said Advani on the eve of the tournament.

Though as hosts India have a strong presence in the men's field, realistically, one cannot look beyond Advani and Kamal Chawla, both semi-finalists in 2012, to go deep into the tournament with the likes of other top Indians Sourav Kothari and the gifted but temperamental Manan Chandra as rank outsiders.

On the distaff side, while Pillai, bronze medalist at the recent Australian Open, heads the Indian challenge, much of the attention would be on fast-improving Ng On Yee (Hong Kong), champion in 2009 and 2010, and Wendy Jans of Belgium winner in the following two years, who will be defending her title.

Lending depth to the women's draw are World 6-reds champion 15-year old Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan from Thailand and runner-up Russian Anastasia Nechaeva.

The championship will be played on a league-cum-knock-out basis and in an air-conditioned indoor stadium equipped with 20 tables.

(Anand Philar can be contacted at anandphilar@gmail.com)