Though India has produced four world champions in billiards, the has still not become
popular among the masses. Rooted among the urbanites, billiards in India has not even
gained as much popularity as it has in a small country like Thailand. Way back in 1989,
Thailand boasted of 9,000 tables, whereas in India - the second largest populated country
of the world - even today there are only 1,500 tables. While clubs with at least 50 tables
under one roof are a common feature in many billiards playing countries, it goes to the
credit of the Karnataka State Billiards Association for having the maximum number of eight
tables (the largest in the country) under its roof.
Despite its poor spread among the masses, the game has developed tremendously and India is
the proud holder of 15 world titles and four world championships. Leading personalities at
the national and international levels include M.M. Begg, Maharaj Dhiraj of Burdwan, late
B.K. Roy, late R.K. Vissanji, Captain Sadler, Sam Hill, Tiger T.A. Selvaraj, Chandra
Hirjee, Wilson Jones, Michael Ferreira, Thomas Monteiro, Satish Mohan, Arvind Savur, Geet
Sethi, Sonic Multani, Subhash Agrawal, Om Agrawal, Sonic Multani, Devender Joshi, B.
Bhaskar. Among women Karnataka's Ms. Judy Walia and Ms. Farah Khan have made big
impressions on the national scene. The Karnataka State Billiards Association has been in
the forefront of organizing tournaments as well as conducting coaching camps for
international championships.
With the game slowly be6nning to lose ground to snooker, the playing pattern has been
changed from hourly basis to the frame basis with 150 points normally being set as the
maximum for tile completion of a frame.
World Champions: Wilson Jones, Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi and Manoj Kothari.
The game is played with two white balls and one red (object ball). There is a black spot
on one of the white balls to enable the players to identify their respective cue balls.
Some of the strokes commonly used in billiards and snooker are: 1. Swerve shot, 2. Masse
shot, 3. Stun shot, 4. Screw back or pull back, 5 Top ball or follow shot, which is also
known as normal shot.
The billiards table measures twelve?and?half feet by six?and half feet with the playing
area within the cushion faces measuring 11 feet and 8 1/2 inches by five feet and 10
inches with a tolerance on both dimensions of plus or minus 1/2 an inch. The height of the
table from the floor to the top of the cushion rail shall between two feet, 9 1/2 inches
and two feet, 10 inches.
The balls shall be of an approved composition and each ball shall weigh between 135 and
145 grams. The diameter of balls shall be 52.5 mm with a tolerance of + 0.05 mm to +0.08
mm. They shall be of equal weight with a tolerance of 0.5 grams per billiards set. The cue
shall not be less than three feet in length and show no substantial departure from the
generally accepted shape and form.
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