Smiling Savur of snooker

quot;No one will be as happy to get this award as I am, especially because of my close association with Om Agrawal in whose memory this has been instituted,quot; noted Savur.

It was actually by accident that Savur took to the game. As a kid, Savur had started with table tennis which he used to play regularly at the local YMCA club in Bangalore. But the paucity of tables meant Savur had to wait for his turn after every game. quot;During the same time the billiards table would remain vacant. My father used to give me four annas per day while it cost two annas for half an hour at the table. So I thought of putting the money to good use rather thansquander my time,quot; reminisces Savur.

And it did not take him too long to realise his knack for the game which he then took seriously.

He went on to win the 1968 National Billiards title which was unfortunately to remain his only one. When Savur was denied entry to the 1969 World Championship, a frustrated Savur bid adieu to billiards. quot;I was held back and another player, who is a famous entity now, was sent ahead of me even though I was in better form. Under such circumstances what do you expect a young man to do?,quot; quizzed Savur.

But it was this incident which pushed him into the related sport, snooker quot;I could play snooker but never took it seriously. But once I left billiards I had little choice and I am happy to have made the decision,quot; said Savur.

And once into the game, there was no looking back as Savur went on to rule the roost and was counted amongst the top snooker players in the country. He won the National snooker titles in 1976, 78 and 79 and also won the bronze in the 1972 and 8217;80 WorldSnooker Championships.

Savur lost to Manuel Fransesco in the 8217;72 Championships at Cardiff, Wales in a thrilling semi-final. The South African won the game, 8-7, on the last black but lost to Ray Edmond by one frame in the final. quot;The scores say how close I was to the World Champion,quot; said Savur.

The British press went bonkers over Savur8217;s play and speed then. quot;Tornado Fatsquot;, as he was nicknamed quot;makes Hurricane Alex Higgins look like a breezequot; read one article.

Even though he lost, Savur went to win the quot;Best Dressed Playerquot; and quot;Best Singerquot; prize at the end of the Championship. Recalling the incident, the 56-year-old Savur said: quot;As a young man I used to patronise some night clubs in Bangalore. If I could sing for some money, I could bloody well sing at a World Championship.quot;

But all was not hunky-dory for Savur, financial stability being a major hassle. He was with Railways till 1972 but remained out of work for the next five years. During that time his only source of income would be the oddevent that he would win. Later, he joined the Indian Telephone Industries ITI from where he retired last year.

Currently Savur heads the Karnataka Snooker and Billiards Association which is helping the game reach new heights. But he is not happy with the functioning of the parent body, the Indian Billiards Federation.

quot;Individuals have helped more in developing the game rather than the Federation. Not that they don8217;t want to but probably they the Federation don8217;t have a clear picture about things,quot; suggested Savur.

Apart from his regular duties Savur takes time to coach players, especially youngsters. Some of the prominent players whom the veteran has helped are Ashok Shandilya, Rafat Habib, Siddharth Rao, Manan Chandra, Alok Kumar, Siddharth Anand, D Lily, Varun Taneja, Yasin Merchant and Geet Sethi. A unique feature of his training programme is that he does not charge any fee from the Indian players. quot;The game has given me so much. I think this is the least I can do to give the game backsomething,quot; said Savur.