Pocketing his way to the top

In 2016, Siddharth Parikh was up against three-time World Champion, Peter Gilchrist at the World Billiards Championships. Absolutely an underdog in the fixture, Parikh managed to edge the champion out to make headlines next day. He did not go on to win the tournament but what Parikh learned then was the ‘floating white’ style, which is not commonly used by cueists.

The results have improved for the Mumbai-based billiards player which also reflected on Saturday at the CCI Billiards Classic 2018. Yet again, Parikh triumphed against similar opposition. It was Sourav Kothari who grabbed a gold last year at Indoor Asian Games.

Kothari and Parikh have come face-to-face on multiple occasions including the 2016 national championship final where the former emerged as the winner. “I have beaten him couple of times after that but this (win on Saturday) meant a lot to me. (The) feeling was like winning a national championship game. It was a revenge but in a healthy way,” says Parikh.

He credits the ‘floating white’ style in bringing this change. To understand, it describes the pot-cannon-pot-cannon sequence during a break at the top of the table where the white (or yellow) object-ball takes a different position after each cannon.

“Players like Devendra Joshi and Mike Russel use it perfectly and I have tried to master it to get good breaks early on. Especially, at tables like CCI’s which have the cloth perfectly laid down and well maintained, it gets better,” he says.

Parikh is a travel ticket examiner at Dockyard Road Railway Station for Central Railways. He has bagged two bronze medals at World Billiards Championships, a bronze at Asian Billiards Championships and gold at Asian Billiards Sport Championship.

Now, he eyes a gold medal at the World Championship which will be held in England in October. He trains at the Garware Clubhouse in Churchgate every day — a place where he would not be allowed for more than an hour around the table as a kid. He used to play at the Table Tennis room right opposite the Billiards room at the facility. “We would get just an hour before or after the big players like Devendra Joshi and Subash Agarwal used to be there,” he recalls his memories from teenage days.  

“It was only after Devendra Joshi gave me a membership at PJ Hindu Gymkhana I was getting to play as much as I can. I was learning and developing quickly as a player and eventually I got my break,” he further recollects.

He has always been the second or third best in the country but Parikh looks in better shape currently. His trophy cabinet still lacks a gold medal from national championship and if looking at bigger dreams, one from world championship as well.