Pool of talent

Manpriya Singh 

There is something typical about the image of boys at a pool salon. The usual celluloid pool table scenes, where the bars are often dark, noisy and crowded, don’t help either. Just in case, there is any sort of female intervention, it’s never a ‘just another player’ joining in. It’s a girl, who can play snooker. Let’s see how she fares? 

It’s raised brows and narrowed eyes, may be pin drop silence, till she maneouvers her cue stick like a pro and scores a point.  “Even then, it doesn’t stop there, they are either intimidated  or in awe, but never neutral and almost always hate losing to a girl,” National-level snooker player Saniya Arif, 23, shares of her experience of having played the game outside the comfort of her home. She was introduced to the sport by her father, at the young age of 14. 

Having played six to seven national tournaments, and one international tournament, she is currently taking a break, courtesy academics.  The fact that practically she was one of the hand-full of girls competing helped. “I was the only one representing Chandigarh and since there were no competitors at the state level, I straightway made it to nationals but then onwards it was a lot of hard work,” shares the pass-out from Chandigarh College of Architecture, who is currently pursuing Master’s from IIT Roorkee. She laughs, “I did badly at my first nationals in 2008 but I got to meet all these amazing players, took autograph of Geet Sethi and from then on I trained hard.” 

It’s a girl  

The first International tournament happened in UAE in 2014 with 15 participants to compete with from across the world. “That’s when I realised, the gender weighs heavy on the mind only in India. Outside, it’s a player playing. Not a girl or a boy,” she adds of the international experience, where she finished 7 in the world rankings. 

There is more than one reason why the sport has such a miniscule ratio of girls. “Be it a club, be it a pool parlour, majority of the public places with pool tales will have men around it, who are drinking and betting while playing the game. Women don’t feel comfortable in that environment,” opines 50-year-old city-based player Shalu Bansal, who took to the sport on the behest of her husband. 

Having played two to three state-level tournaments, she is currently on a hiatus, because of her back problems. A freelance consultant, what she loves about the sport is the unique set of skills required to ace the game. “It’s really good for one’s reflexes. I am doing yoga and back strengthening exercises; would love to get back soon.” 

Image overhaul 

The 30-year-old Navika Yadav, who has played a couple of university-level tournaments but never went further, feels it is partly the stereotypical image of the game that is to be blamed. “Movie scenes with brawls and men around pool table don’t exactly make us think of it as a professional, clean sport with girls competing, rather than boys betting.”  

Affirms 20-year-old Akshita Duggal, who has represented Chandigarh thrice at the state level, “Boys get more surprised than girls at finding out that a girl can play snooker really well.”

She took to the game quite naturally, having had three generations of snooker players in the family. “Whenever I’d compete with my brother or other boys during practice sessions, they’d always be conscious of a girl playing and men invariably hate losing to a girl,” she laughs. “But once more and more girls join in, the practice clubs will change and so will the image.” 

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