'Super' Sonic Multani considers coaching role

Nostalgia strikes him as soon as he touches the green baize upon entering the dark billiards room of the Cricket Club of India (CCI), withthe lights hanging on top of the table illuminating the colourful game balls and the green table. “It’s like a home away from home,” he says.

Sonic Multani stunned the world twice after his win against World No. 1 of that period, Stephen Gendry in the 555 Masters World Series and it was soon followed by his outrageous decision to quit the sport at his peak.

The veteran crashed out of the CCI Open Snooker Championship 2018 on Thursday, but one could not miss his class with the stick as he still pockets the ball in the same incredible style. Multani says that his last competitive tournament was in 1997 and now is the time to find comfort in the role of a trainer.

“I am getting a table installed in my house with a few video cameras. Let’s see — that should take me a few months. I could look into a coaching role then,” he says.

“I stopped playing in 1997 and for 17-18 years I did not play. I will not be able to spare time for any more tournaments. The reason is I am alone at the house with my mom after my dad passed away. Here, I have old friends and everybody with the same passion so I came for one tournament. I had the time to continue earlier, but not anymore. I have to take care of my mom because whenever I am away, she feels lonely,” says Multani, as he tells us why he moved away from the sport.

Multani had a incredibly brief career but he managed to churn out some really remarkable games in those years, including the one with Gendry.

Since he felt that his career was not supporting him well, he decided to move back home and join his family business. For whatever time he had around the table, he honed his skills in Mumbai. “I learned a lot over here and Zulfiqar (Saria) is very good friend. He called and told me that he is having a tournament and I should come down. I had not been out of Ahmadabad for a long time and CCI is the best place to come to. Also I met Yasin (Merchant) after 20 years and I did not speak a single word about snooker to him,” he says.

Multani’s spell as a player was certainly over but many thought that this tournament could spark his return. However, he has suggested that he might return as a coach.

Results – First round:

Divya Sharma (Har) bt Aditya Agarwal 4-2 (60(53)-11, 27-73, 72-59, 55-28. 35-84, 72-59);
Shahabaz Adil Khan (PSPB) bt Sidraj Shah (CCI) 68-26, 89-0, 25-68, 27-60, 65-2, 75-67);
Rahul Sachdev (Mah) bt Alok Kumar (PSPB) 4-2 (62-18, 6-91, 3-75, 66-42, 80(53)-16, 70-25);
Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Mah) bt Aayush Kumar (UP) 4-0 (96-52, 81-34, 62-60, 56-47);
Sundeep Gulati (PSPB) bt Malkeet Singh (Rly) 4-3 (43-82, 40-70, 60-42, 9-61, 70-35, 66-15, 70-58);
Sourav Kothari (PSPB ) bt Manav Panchal (Mah) 4-1 (91(77)-25, 46-67, 60-13, 88-62, 99(99)-0);
Manish Jain (WB) bt Dilip Kumar (Rly) 4-3 (23-92, 53-61, 72-21, 63-24, 70(64)-21, 30-90, 61-56);  
Himanshu Jain (TLGN) bt R. Girish (Rly) 4-1 (75(66)-15, 78-65, 15-70, 55-18, 55-9);
Kamal Chawla (Rly) bt Nitesh Madan (Rly) 4-1 (81-5, 86-0, 86-6, 6-86(86), 86(60)-10);
Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Aravind Kumar (Rly) 4-0 (91(71)-1, 70-9, 77-8, 78-39);
Sumit Talwar (Puj) bt Taaha Khan (Pune) 4-3 (72-41, 13-74(73), 66-13, 73(51)-8, 57-64, 47-63, 77-23);
Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Abhimanyu Gandhi (Mah) 4-0 (54-37, 94(59)-17, 91-29, 73-26);
Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Akshay Kumar (UP) 4-0 (68-18, 69-63, 74-61, 95-0);
Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Siddharth Parikh (Rly) 4-3 (54-57, 67-56, 73-19, 09-74, 74-9, 44-71, 56-45);