After 14 years of struggle, Dilip rises to the top

Maybe, Dilip could not raise the bar in snooker early in his career because of the conditions. Like any talented player in the city, Dilip too is handicapped compared to his peers in Bengaluru and Mumbai for want of facilities and it takes that extra work and dedication to be competitive at the top. 

He started playing snooker from 2004 in a parlour on Mount Road. Two years later, he shifted to TNBSA and started playing billiards and snooker. In 2006, he won both billiards and snooker sub-junior state titles and junior state titles. He kept on playing both snooker and billiards for two more years before he decided he would concentrate only on snooker. 

“When I was playing in the parlour, my friend Nandakumar pushed me to join TNBSA. Former international SA Saleem is my coach. I was trained and coached by him for several years and I am still continuing with him,” said Dilip Kumar. 

A computer science graduate, Dilip works for Southern Railway, a job that he got through sports quota (billiards and snooker). Dilip feels some cities are traditionally good in the sport because of the support they get there. “Bengaluru (KSBA) has 15 tables and government supports it. The Karnataka government has allocated its own place and funds for the billiards association. Because of the government support, the association there maintained good ambience and a number of tables. The Tamil Nadu billiards association does not have its own place. Mumbai and Gujarat have many clubs promoting the sport. Tamil Nadu association is lacking the funds. If the Tamil Nadu government supports, we will also do wonders,” sighed Dilip. 

Dilip, who lives in Chetpet, practises in Madras Cricket Club (MCC) under the guidance of Saleem.

In fact, it was in the last three years that Dilip’s career took off. In 2016, he won several Tamil Nadu State Open and Invitation tournaments. That year, he was also the India No.7 in senior snooker. He beat all top players in national circuit and his prized scalp was Aditya Mehta in the CCI All India Open Tournament in Mumbai. In the same year, he represented India in the World Team Snooker Championship in Egypt. The same year, he played the world 6red championship in Egypt. “In both the championships, I finished in the top 64. I played Indian Open (world professional ranking tournament in 2017 and also the Asia City Team Championship in China and finished in the top 16,” recounted Dilip. 

In January this year, he jumped to No 5 in National ranking. He made 13 century breaks in match play.

Dilip, who lost in the semi-finals in the YMCA snooker tournament on Saturday, is all praise for the young talents from Chennai. “Both Shrikrishna and Anupama are doing extremely well in the junior categories. They both won all the State titles in all the categories. They both are highly talented and hardworking. They have age on their side,” he remarked.