On any given normal day, you can find him at his second home, the Khar Gymkhana, instructing aspiring snooker players with the same passion he had 15 years from today. Yasin Merchant, the 11-time national champion, will feature yet again at the CCI Open Snooker Championship that will commence from February 1.
After the elections of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Mumbai (BSAM), which were held in November, Merchant was chosen as the president unanimously. The former cueist has always been after the association for not holding enough tournaments in Mumbai. The committee consists of former players, including Nikhil Ootam and Siddharth Parikh among others.
Merchant’s plan is to increase the number of tournaments in the city. “The entire committee has changed. Now I will serve as the President for two years. Ex-players have come to power. We plan to up the number of competitions and walk the talk,” says Merchant.
“As soon as the CCI Open ends, we will start a tournament in Matunga, which will be followed by another one in Khar. We are also planning to revive the CueSports League this year. It did not take place in 2017 and we don’t want that happening this year,” he says.
Although he announced his retirement in 2011, Merchant is competing in the CCI Open because of his obsession with the sport. A loud laugh was his response on being asked about his prep for this competition. “I don’t have any aspirations of becoming the national champion again,” he quips. “If it was in any other city, I would not even take part. But since the competition is being held in Mumbai, I will give it a shot because they invited me,” he says.
