Starting from the bottom: Aditya Mehta

A prolonged break from a sport with reduced hours of training undeniably does make a difference to a player. “It is like starting from scratch,” are Aditya Mehta’s own words after being away from the snooker table.

Snooker is not the most demanding sport physically but at the same time the upper body is constantly under strain. The neck is uptight while trying to pocket the ball or finding the right angle. Mehta who is 32 years old now states that this neck issue has been with him for the last 10 years. “It is the wear and tear of the game, not an injury as such.”

It was a surprise to see his name in the CCI Billiards Classic 2018 since Mehta has been glued to snooker all his life. Both snooker and billiards are cue sports but the players differ. A snooker player does not enter the billiards boundaries and contrariwise.

While representing Indian Oil, Aditya Mehta, who had been playing in the pro snooker circuit in the United Kingdom till last year, showed great touch and played some exquisite shots as he neatly compiled two sizeable breaks of 83 and 94 as he went to record an easy 392-154 win against Maharashtra’s Rishabh Thakkar in a Group-B match.

“Just warming up with these tournaments since I have been on a break,” he says.

Mehta left his home when he was 15 to train in Holland. Soon he earned a ‘pro’ ticket. It allows a player to compete in the Challenge Tour. In 2008/09, the Mumbai-born snooker player earned a nomination for the Main Tour. To stay in that position and play in the tour, he did not find a period to put his feet up and loosen up.

Eventually it added up and for the last couple of months, he has been off the table. “It (neck problem) aggravates honestly. All these years, I was pushing myself to play another pro-tour season but my neck was really being a problem,” he says.

The tour has begun for the 2018/19 season and Mehta is in the city with his parents playing low-scale competitions.

“This year I decided to take some time off. I can return next year after playing the Q-school. Nothing is over; it is just that I am starting from scratch. Sometimes, even that is nice. You may forget the things that were going wrong and learn better. Anyway, playing at the level requires 100% fitness and training,” he says.

 Mehta was also one of the medallists from the 2010 Asian Games after which cue sports were moved to Indoor Asian Games. Mehta complains that it is not regarded as important as the Asian Games. “The government does not consider the Indoor Games as important as the Asiad so even the players are not so keen,” says Mehta who two bronze medals and one silver medal from various Asiads.

Mehta plans to return to Belgium by October ruling out any chances of retirement in the coming years. He is eyeing to emulate his own top 50 heroics from 2015.

Results
Group-D: Neeraj Kumar (Rlys) beat Raayan Razmi (Mah) 313(48,73)-278(94);
Group-B: Aditya Mehta (IOC) beat Rishabh Thakkar (Mah) 392(83,94)-154;
Group-B: Vishal Madan (Mah) beat Nikhil Ghadge (Rlys) 447(60,98,50,60)-214;
Group-G: Nalin Patel (Mah) beat Brijesh Damani (IOC) 402(64,90,77)-328(50);
Group-G: S. Srikrishana (BPCL) beat Rishabh Kumar (Mah) 448(79,96)-318(77);
Group-H: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) beat Chandu Kansodaria (Mah) 691(71,80,74,98,131)-106.