Dhvaj Haria is all set to make a splash when he debuts at the 2012 World Billiards Championship to be held in Leeds this October. Incidentally, the 7-member team named to represent India at the event has three cueists from Ahmedabad.
Besides the defending junior billiards national champion Haria, former world champions Geet Sethi and Rupesh Shah will join Pankaj Advani, Sourav Kothari, Ashok Shandilya and Alok Kumar to represent India at the global event. Haria, Sethi and Shah are from Ahmedabad.
The 10-day competition will be a unified IBSF/WBL championship and will take place at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds from October 17 to 28, 2012. The World Championships will be played on a dual format of time and 150 points up.
Haria, who makes his international debut as an amateur, is a worthy team-mate of the legendary Geet Sethi, a nine times world billiards champion. “I am on top of the world,” said the 19-year-old.
Now that he is in the league of extraordinary gentlemen, is he feeling butterflies in his stomach? The youngster was composed when he said: “The tournament will be good exposure for me. It will be a good learning experience.”
Haria has already started polishing his skills with the help of his coach, Subhash Agrawal, and former national champion Sonic Multani.
“I am following the schedule set by Subhash Sir and practice for six hours. For that I have installed a billiards table at home. If there are any doubts, I call him. Moreover, Sonic Multani is also helping me with some valuable tips,” the young cueist said.
Earlier this year, he joined legendary cueists Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani, who have won three national titles in a single national competition at Pune. Haria walked away with top honours in the national sub-junior snooker and billiards competitions besides the junior billiards title. Dhvaj has already been felicitated with the Eklavya Award by the Government of Gujarat.
