Indian cueists confident of good show in Asian Games
New Delhi: Former World Professional champion Pankaj Advani and legendary Geet Sethi are confident of a good show by the Indian cueists in this month's Asian Games in China and said the contingent will look to double its medal count this year.
In the Doha Asian Games, apart from Advani's gold medal in Billiards singles category, Ashok Shandilya had won a silver in Billiards singles while in the Snooker team event, the country had won a bronze medal. Sethi and Shandilya won a bronze in the billiards doubles event.
In the last three months beginning August, most of the men's players, part of the 17-member (men and women) squad for the Guangzhou Games, featured in the series of tournaments including IBSF World Billiards Championship in Pune, Indian National Billiards and Snooker Championship, also in Pune, and more recently in the World Professional Billiards Championship in Leeds, UK.
The Indian cueists also sweat it out at the final conditioning camp in Bangalore that began on October 20, with two international coaches England's Derek Del Hill (snooker) and Filipino Jorge C Dacer (pool), indulging in some rigorous training schedule.
The coaches were roped in for a fortnight by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India to brighten country's medal prospects in the snooker and pool disciplines respectively.
"There is lot of pressure in the Asian Games as our sport is played on a knockout basis. You need to be mentally strong to change your game plan according to the situation warranted," Advani said.
"After the World championship, the next big challenge is Asian Games and I am hopeful of repeating my earlier success at this edition of the Games. I am confident that the Indian cueists will perform well at the event," said the national Snooker champion Advani.