Nishant Biswal is the top ranking snooker player from the state. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 16: As a Class X student Nishant Biswal had once dropped in at a pool parlour in Cuttack out of curiosity way back in 2005. Five years later he has turned out to be the top ranking junior snooker and billiards player from the state.

In the SJ Cup All Orissa Open Snooker Championship that ended on Saturday, Nishant was the only player from the junior cadre to reach the semi-finals while the three other semi-finalists were senior players.

Although his journey at this championship ended in the semis itself, the young cueist continues pursuing his ambition.“It’s my passion and I’ll keep trying harder,” said the young player.

Nishant practised playing snooker on his own at the pool parlour called Snooker Club in Cuttack for two years but after that he got an opportunity to pursue his passion profess ionally.

“I did not get to get coaching or training in the beginning. But watching the game regularly on the television helped me learn a few tricks when I entered the Pradeep Sen Memorial tournament held at Cuttack Club in 2007,” reminisced the cueist.

His passion for the game and techniques started improving when seniors encouraged him and even started providing guidance.

“Seniors from the state like Subrat Das and Rakesh Roshan Pradhan helped me a lot. In fact one could say they coached me and trained me,” said the Cuttack boy.

Nishant was also coached by 1990 World Billiards Champion Manoj Kothari who is now a national coach. “It was the most amazing experience of my life,” he said.

Nishant who picked up the nuances of the game made it to the national championship last year.

“The game is at a nascent stage as there is no scope for learning since there are no professional trainers. All of us take help from the Internet and watch videos of international games to improve our style. However the national level players have more expertise than the ones at the level,” he said.

Nevertheless, Nishant added that things are definitely improving gradually.

“More and more youngsters are coming into the game and all of them have a very strong passion for snookers and billiards. It’s good to know that two academies have come up in the last couple of years that give cueists a good infrastructure to practise,” he added.

Cuesports academy and Bhubaneswar Snooker Academy have been organising tournaments and championships to give the cueists a professional platform, said the cueist who had won last year’s state level championship and claimed the top spot.

However, due to the limited scope to pursue the table game as a full time career, Nishant believes that he needs to focus on his education as well.

“It’s imperative for me look for other avenues to earn in order to eke out a living as the financial rewards from the game are meagre,” said Nishant, the electronics and telecommunication engineering student who is also preparing for MBA entrance exam.

“But I will always continue playing snooker because there is only a handful who make it to the top spot in the national level and at the state level game,” he signed off.