Coonoor: The hill town of Coonoor has something special to feel proud of as one of its young progeny, J. Mariam Agnish (14), having been selected to represent India in the under-18 World Snooker Championship slated to be held in Russia early October.
For Agnish, a class IX student of the famed St. Joseph 's Convent here, both snooker and billiards are in her genes as she inherited these talents from her father A. Joseph Selvakumar, a renowned billiards and snooker coach attached to the Coonoor club.
While Agnish took to serious learning of billiards and snooker at the age of 12, rose quickly in the junior billiards and snooker arena as she bagged the 'India No.2 spot' in the Junior (girls) billiards earlier this year. Now, she is also set to fly to Russia to prove her mettle in the World snooker championship.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle she said that billiards and snooker are different ball games, and snooker is more interesting to her as the latter is a 22-ball game which tests one's concentration and ability do the mental calculations well to come out successful.
“I grew up watching my dad coaching and playing both billiards and snooker. Some how, I decided to focus on these games when I grow up. Only two years ago I took to actively playing and training and my dad’s coaching has done wonders in me. I'm very eager to fly over to Russia to play the game and prove to the world that Indian girls are second to none in snooker,” Agnish added.
