By Elliott West
“He was a champion cueist and a great administrator. I lost a friend today. It’s a great loss to the entire cue sports fraternity”.
DBSA secretary, Ravi Tandon.
Introduction
Sad news came in May this year with the announcement of the passing of Delhi state billiards champion and veteran cueist, Amit Sharma. Armit was sadly a victim of the Covid pandemic raging in India and lost his life at the very early age of 38. Rushed into hospital with breathing difficulties, Sharma had to have oxygen support at Escorts Hospital in South Delhi, succumbing to this dreadful illness.
A True Star
Amit Sharma had quit the sport in 2014 after a very successful career in billiards, a sport that is actually more popular than snooker in India despite being the birthplace of snooker. Deciding instead to work in his family business, Amit made a surprise announcement in 2010, six years after his departure that he would return to take part in the state championships. Few thought that he might go far in this tournament but he proved the doubters wrong and went on to win the title.
After making a blistering break of 85 points against Varun Madan in the second round-robin match, the Indian maestro blew his opponent out of the water with a 2-1 scoreline. He went on to complete his winning streak by defeating Vijay Goyal by the same score in the final. A marvellous feat in the Delhi state Snooker Championships where billiards is also part of the draw.
The Art of Success
Sharma based his success on achieving short-term goals, an ambition that was revived by his business that manufactured billiards tables and supplies, exporting them across the globe. Juggling his time between the constraints of work and practice, he was gradually able to increase his practice time and used this precious time to concentrate on one match at a time. A strategy that paid off, allowing him to grace the same stage as the billiards great, Geet Sethi and the former snooker professional, Pankaj Advani.
A Young Star
Sharma started playing cue sports at the tender age of 14 and went on to become the Delhi state junior billiards champion. He quickly ascended to the senior level and won the state billiards title several times. Going on to become the vice-president of the Delhi Billiards and Snooker Association (DBSA, he revived the North Zone School Boys Tournament in 2014 whilst working as an administrator. He also ran several very successful coaching camps for talented hopefuls in the city’s pool clubs.
