Chennai: To be a dominant force in a sport, that too for a whopping 20 years, is something that comes with hard work, dedication and love for the game. Prem Prakash, the undisputed king of state billiards, epitomises all these qualities. Prem, who won the Artistic billiards tournament on Monday, has been Tamil Nadu's No.1 cueist since 1993.
Prem cut his billiards teeth way back in 1986 in a small club at Ooty. “My dad used to play there regularly. So I spent a lot of time in the billiards room and it was only natural that I fell in love with the game,“ recalled the 47 year-old.
Prem made rapid progress as he was crowned the Coimbatore dis trict champion in 1990. “The very next year I became the no. 1 in the state by winning the state rank ing tournament. Though I lost it in 1992, I came back strongly the fol lowing year. Since then it has become a habit,“ said Prem.
Though he took the state tournament by storm, it took a while for him to make his presence felt at nation al level. The first time he represented the country was in 1997 at world championship in Malta.
“I was ranked world no.8 that time. I lost in the quarter-finals there. I was leading for almost 95 per cent of the game only to gift the match to my opponent, missing a cannon. He promptly pounced on the opportunity,“ said Prem adding that winning the Sri Lankan Open in 2000 was one of the memo rable moments of his career.
Apart from billiards, Prem also excelled in pool and snooker. “I reached the doubles quarter-finals of the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. I started playing snooker seriously only in 2004. I was once ranked No.1 in snooker too,“ Prem said. Prem owes his success and longevity to his family. “They have been backing me so much," he said.
The state champ has a vision to change the profile of cue sports in Tamil Nadu.
“My dream is to take the game to rural areas. That's where the raw talents come from. In 2003, I started my academy in Coimbatore. In a short period, we have produced quality players such as Vijay Nichani (currently India no. 4), Girish (ranked no. 1 in state snooker) and Jaiganesh (No. 2 in billiards). I am also planning to start another academy with world class facilities,“ he informed.
