Medal hopes rest on Vidya, Manan at IBSF World Snooker

World 6-red snooker gold medallist Vidya Pillai and 2006 edition bronze winner Manan Chandra are India's best medal hopes at the IBSF World Snooker Championship, beginning in Daugavpils, Latvia tomorrow.
A 10-member Indian contingent today left for the European country to compete in the prestigious 12-day championship.
The 15-Red championship has attracted 242 entries from 51 countries, of which, 126 will fight it out for the men's trophy. The Masters and women events will see 74 and 42 contestants respectively at the Daugavpils Olympic Sports Center.
India have fielded Manan Chandra (Delhi), Brijesh Damani (Kolkata) and Shahbaaz Adil Khan (Kolkata) in the men's section while Pillai (Tamil Nadu), Neena Praveen (Tamil Nadu), Chitra Magimairaj (Karnataka), Arantxa Sanchis (Mumbai) and Varshaa Sanjeev (Karnataka) form the women's squad.

In the Masters section (above 40 age), India have two entries in Tamil Nadu's S A Saleem and Nizel Benedict Lazar. Sanjay Sawant will be accompanying the team as the chief coach. Varshaa, at 16, is the youngest-ever cueist to represent India in the IBSF event.
The IBSF snooker events have always been a happy hunting ground for the Indian cueists as the country boast of four gold medals, two silver and six bronze from the prestigious championships.
India had won their first historic gold in snooker in 1984 when late O B Agarwal defeated T Parson of Wales in Dublin, Ireland. Eight-time world champion Pankaj Advani repeated the feat in China 19 years later when he won the IBSF World Snooker gold at the age of 18 in 2003.

The Indian trio of Geet Sethi, Devendra Joshi and BVS Murthy had also proudly featured with gold medals around their necks in the inaugural IBSF World Team Championship event in 2006 at San Jose, America while the duo of Pillai and Arantxa Sanchis clinched the yellow metal in the women's team event at the World 6-red snooker in Carlow, Ireland last month.