Aditya Mehta: India’s Cue sports need a youth revolution

CHENNAI: Picture a teenager walking into a big arena built for a world event, with action-tracking cameras and lights trained on the baize. Aditya Mehta has been there. At 40, he is still competing at the highest level. 

But when he talks about the second Commonwealth cue sports championship in India, he is thinking about the future of the sport. "What young players can really absorb is the sheer scale and atmosphere," Aditya tells DT Next. 

"Feeling the pressure when the cameras and lights are on you allows a youngster to visualise themselves in that position one day." The three-day championship, held as part of the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India’s centenary year, may be short, but it offers a significant stage for the sport.

“Every tournament offers a distinct opportunity to add a medal to your CV, and a platform like the Commonwealth is recognized across the sporting world. While it may not be part of the Commonwealth Games yet, that is the next logical step, and events like this pave the path toward that possibility,” he adds. 

151 years ago, during the British Raj, British army officer Neville Chamberlain, who was stationed in India, devised the rules and playing conditions for snooker. Yet, until two decades ago, there were few opportunities to watch professional snooker or major international events in the country.

That has since changed, with greater visibility bringing the sport to a wider audience and more clubs and snooker parlours. Even that, however, is not translating into structured participation at the youth level. 

“The challenge now is translating that growing recreational interest into structured participation at the school and collegiate levels for the under-15s and under-16s. That is where you build high-performance athletes and professional players,” Aditya adds. 

“It is great to have the second edition in India as part of the BSFI’s centenary year celebrations. We want to show the world that we have phenomenal players, world-class hospitality, and the ability to continue dominating the amateur circuit."

80% of snooker is mental, not technical

While snooker is considered one of the most technically demanding cue sports, Aditya sees the game differently. "The mental side has always been 80% of the game, but anybody can learn the technical potting fundamentals—it’s not rocket science. However, winning is much harder to teach.”

The 40-year-old insists that unless the technical foundation is strong, no amount of motivation can help a player. “When your foundation is right, your upward trajectory is much steeper. Without it, you end up placing immense, unnecessary strain on your mental game just trying to compensate."

That is where the longevity of Aditya and Pankaj Advani becomes particularly important for the next generation, a rivalry that began almost 25 years ago. Aditya wants the next generation to look beyond their rivalry and learn from their consistency and adaptability.

"Pankaj and I have been competing against each other for nearly 25 years. That rivalry peaked about a decade ago when we were both on the pro tour, which was a huge milestone for Indian cue sports.

“Today, it’s less about the rivalry and more about our longevity. At 40, we are not only still competing, but we are still at the top in this country. Hopefully, the younger generation looks at our consistency, how we’ve adapted our games, and the decades of experience behind it, and takes something valuable from that."

Amongst the younger generation, son of national-level snooker and billiards star Sachin Sancheti, Aarav is already ‘touted’ as the one for the future. At just 14, Aarav hit the headlines, becoming the youngest player to win a junior (U19) title at the inaugural Heyball National Championship. A year later, he retained the title, underlining his rapid development.

“Aarav Sancheti is the name everyone is talking about. He has strong backing, great coaching, and he’s been dominating across the junior and sub-junior circuits.”

“But overall, we still need to produce junior players in much larger numbers. With cue sports set to return to the Asian Games, I expect the national governing body to take significant steps over the next couple of years to build that youth pipeline."

Asiad return, and Olympic dream still remains

After appearing in just four editions of the Asian Games, snooker was dropped from the continental multi-sport event, with the Asian Indoor Games and Asian Championships becoming major platforms instead. For Aditya, though, the continental tournament holds a special place, as it ‘practically saved’ his career. 

"Winning bronze and silver at the 2010 Asian Games was massive for me—it practically saved my career. I turned professional in 2008 during a very difficult era with few tournaments and minimal prize money, and I was running on fumes. The government incentives from those Asian Games medals funded my next season on the pro tour and acted as my springboard.”

With snooker returning for the 2030 Asian Games, Aditya believes it will bring about a big hope for budding cueists. Not just in terms of visibility, it will also offer the cueists financial backing. There have also been talks of snooker trying to enter into the Olympics ecosystem, starting with the 2032 edition in Brisbane.

"Olympic decisions are planned years in advance, so we have to take it one step at a time. Bodies like the IBSF and WST are doing the necessary groundwork—expanding the women’s game and developing disability disciplines to make cue sports truly universal and Olympic-ready."

His hope for this week is simpler. "The best outcome would be for an Indian player to win a medal. Watching the flag go up and hearing the national anthem played on home soil gives you goosebumps."

And somewhere in that arena, perhaps, will be the next generation of cue stars, watching, learning and most importantly, dreaming of themselves in the Olympics.