By Elliott West
“Playing alongside world’s greats would be altogether a different experience. I am ready for challenges in the league and will try to win as many matches as possible,”
Malkeet Singh
Introduction
India continues to bring talented snooker players to the forefront of the game and one such player that has been making the headlines in his country is Malkeet Singh. In a land where cricket and hockey are the two most popular sports, Malkeet is on a mission to buck the trend and bring snooker to the attention of this immense population. A task that to date seems to be doing the trick.
Career
As anyone who follows snooker knows, snooker doesn’t often make the headlines in newspapers but in 2017, a large article was published in the Times of India about this promising cueist. Malkeet had recently won a gold medal in the Men’s Asian Team Championship at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a win that opened the doors for him to play alongside the cream of India’s snooker players including Pankaj Advani and Laxman Rawat. An experience that put him on cloud nine.
This Lucknow lad now had a spring in his step and on the back of this win, got the opportunity to participate in the first-ever Cue Slam League in Ahmedabad. This was a great opportunity for this promising player to be the only one from his state to play with several other players from the world in the league. A competition that has lots of opportunities and one that could finally put India on the map as a serious snooker contender and raises the profile of not only Singh but his home of Lucknow.
Discipline and Diet
Snooker may not be the most energetic game but it does require a strict regime if you are going to have any chance of success. Malkeet Singh has already learnt that by working closely with Pankaj Advani. This user experience has taught him not to be more disciplined than he already is but to also start following a routine and to learn the tactical side of the game.
Still a Long Way to Go
Despite making this breakthrough in snooker, Malkeet knows that snooker still has a long way to evolve in India. Snooker is still considered to be a pastime in India, a game that allows you to go to a local snooker club to drink and smoke rather than take it seriously. There is still a lack of snooker infrastructure in this country with little investment and no snooker academies.
The Spark
Like so many snooker players, Malkeet Singh started playing at a young age. He was in fact only 11 and first got interested in cue sports when he got the opportunity to play on a pool table at a relative’s house. At the time, it wasn’t that initial spark and it wasn’t until he started watching his father play and a pool challenge from his Uncle who owned a local pool cafe, that he truly gained his appetite. This challenge changed his life and spurred him on to want to play professionally.
However like any sport, you have to have a fallback and for Singh, this has been a job working for the Indian railways as a senior ticket examiner and is a representative on Railways Sports Promotion Board. Everyone needs money to survive and with India only hosting one professional snooker tournament, the Indian Open, there is very little opportunity to earn any money out of the game in his own country. There is still a stigma with snooker in India as it is something that is played inside and you have to remain quiet whilst watching it. These are still oddities for a race that love to spend time outside watching cricket in the midst of a noisy atmosphere.
Afterthought
Afterthought Malkeet Singh is already making large strides in the world of Indian snooker. A player who started playing snooker in 2003 and by 2013 was already India’s top junior player. Someone who has been given this opportunity as a result of being part of a middle-class family, his father, Satnam running a travel agency and additionally a billiards and snooker referee and sheer hard work. More recently this year, Malkeet set the snooker table on fire by producing an excellent 75 break at the Billiards and Snooker National Championship.
