Aditya Mehta eyes maiden senior snooker title

Aditya Mehta has been a junior snooker champ. Now he eyes the senior crown at the Senior  National Snooker Championship conducted by the MP Billiards and Snooker Association at the Yeshwant Club. Asia No 2 Aditya, who finished runner-up to Pankaj Advani, at the last Nationals in Bangalore, says he hopes to put into practice what he learned in the last three months in the pro qualifiers at the Nationals. Excerpts form  the interview.

How are conditions at Indore where you played the billiards?
The conditions are ok. Hopefully the tables will play good for the snooker event.

How have been preparing for the Nationals?
I have been working extremely hard for the last  three weeks. After the first  three months in the UK,  I realised what my weaknesses are and what I need to do in training.  I have  been doing 7-8 hours of solo practice everyday.
 
Will you carry the UK form into this event?
I have  had  only one good result in the UK so I won't say that I was in good form as such, but I have learnt a lot and that should help me put in a good performance at the Nationals.In turn a good National will boost me for the next pro qualifiers (for the UK Open)  for which I fly out immediately  after the event.

What were the lessons of the brief pro appearances?
It's that you must produce your best every day. Only that type of consistency will get you there. I learnt from everyone and the pros were all helpful especially those from China and Thailand.

What was your best show ?
I got to the third round of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix, beating world no 64 David Morris 5-4 in the second round with a 140  break which is my career best.

Did you beat an top-50 player?
I only got to play one top-50 player, Judd Trump( no.41), in the above event but  lost 5-1. But it was much closer than what the scoreline says.

Your  140 still the highest  in the qualifiers?
Yes, I got the highest break prize in the RLW Grand Prix for the 140.

Your last National show has been your best?
After taking a break for most of 2007, it was really great to make it to the finals.The most important thing that came out of it was  the  chance to the play the Asians in which I was runner-up and earned the pro-ticket. Gamewise, I think im playing much better now and hopefully I can go all the way this time.

Do you fancy chances against Pankaj Advani  if you get there?
After losing to Pankaj in the final last year, I have had a few good wins against him. So I always fancy myself against anyone when I feel confident of my game.

Who are the newer players to watch out for ?
I think guys like Lucky Vatnani, Faisal Khan who won a all-india invitation recently will be players to watch out for. Apart from that, a couple of the juniors are getting better especially, Shahbaz Khan, the U-21 Snooker National Champ

Pradeep Vijayakar :: Saturday 22 November 2008