by elliott west
India is of course the birthplace of snooker and was first played in Jabalpur in 1875.
Sir Neville Chamberlain an army officer from Slough in the 11th Devonshire regiment invented the game and dubbed the game snooker after taking it from the nickname of British army cadets who were called “snookers”.
Since the end of British rule in India in 1948, India has continued to love the game even though its derivative, billiards is still more popular with players such as Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta being successful in both sports for the country. It was therefore sad to hear this week that World Snooker has postponed this this year’s Indian Open in March due to not being able to secure a location for the event. The tournament has run successfully since 2013, first won by Ding Junhui and then Michael White in 2015 and Anthony McGill in 2016, John Higgins in 2017 and Matthew Selt in 2019. Disaster struck in 2018 when Kerala floods caused its cancellation that year.
This tournament has grown in strength over the years and although not televised in this country, is covered by an Indian television network and is streamed on various internet sites.
Humid conditions do not always bode well for snooker in foreign climates with moisture affecting the run of the ball on the baize. However, World Snooker had managed to attract Indian cue sports’ lovers to the various locations of the Indian Open and opened up the doors to showcase main tour players that this country may have seen play in the flesh or those that have never watched a snooker match before. Ironically snooker may have been born here but relies on the Indian Open to be played on its annual stage.
It was be a great shame if no location was found in India for this iconic event and would be tragic if the tournament was cancelled this year as a consequence. India has in recent years achieved a booming economy and is a leading light in many industries. Snooker maybe a niche market but it has extremely close ties to the country and its long history. Like China, it has a massive population and China now leads the sport with investment, tournaments and a growing number of players in the sport with the game being taught in the Chinese national curriculum. Similarly, India has the potential to harness this market and brand further tournaments on its soil.
New Delhi, Mumbai and other cities already strive to regenerate their ageing infrastructure and an interval/external investment partnership in snooker would brand the sport as a household name. With snooker due to dip its toe in the Arabic market again with a ten year deal hosting an event in Qatar, India can only gain confidence in the fact that snooker is rapidly becoming a global sport and so must work to get a large piece of this snooker pie!
