One of this season’s newcomers to the main tour, India’s Aditya Mehta has been chatting to The Times of India ahead of the national championship about his professional campaign so far…
To view the full article, please click here, or carry on reading this page to view his interview:
“How have you been preparing for the Nationals?
I have been working extremely hard for the last three weeks. After the first three months in the UK, I realised what my weaknesses are and what I need to do in training. I have been doing 7-8 hours of solo practice everyday.
Will you carry the UK form into this event?
I have had only one good result in the UK so I won’t say that I was in good form as such, but I have learnt a lot and that should help me put in a good performance at the Nationals. In turn a good National will boost me for the next pro qualifiers (for the UK Open) for which I fly out immediately after the event.
What were the lessons of the brief pro appearances?
It’s that you must produce your best every day. Only that type of consistency will get you there. I learnt from everyone and the pros were all helpful especially those from China and Thailand.
What was your best show?
I got to the third round of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix, beating world no 64 David Morris 5-4 in the second round with a 140 break which is my career best.
Did you beat any top-50 player?
I only got to play one top-50 player, Judd Trump (no.41), in the above event but lost 5-1. But it was much closer than what the score-line says.
Your 140 is still the highest in the qualifiers?
Yes, I got the highest break prize in the RLW Grand Prix for the 140.
Your last National show has been your best?
After taking a break for most of 2007, it was really great to make it to the finals. The most important thing that came out of it was the chance to the play the Asians in which I was runner-up and earned the pro-ticket. Gamewise, I think I am playing much better now and hopefully I can go all the way this time.
Do you fancy chances against Pankaj Advani if you get there?
After losing to Pankaj in the final last year, I have had a few good wins against him. So I always fancy myself against anyone when I feel confident of my game.
Who are the newer players to watch out for?
I think guys like Lucky Vatnani, Faisal Khan who won a all-india invitation recently will be players to watch out for. Apart from that, a couple of the juniors are getting better especially, Shahbaz Khan, the U-21snooker National Champ.
How are conditions at Indore where you played the billiards?
The conditions are ok. Hopefully the tables will play good for the snooker event.”
It is always interesting to hear from a player further down the rankings like Aditya as the information available on them is pretty minimal at the best of times. Having gained his main tour place for this season by finishing runner-up to Pankaj Advani in the national championship, he will be hoping to show how much he has improved this season by playing with better players and make amends with another win against his main rival.
When he gets back though he will have to start playing well quickly because as he suggests, he has only had one positive tournament so far, suffering first round defeats to Paul Davison, Lee Spick and James McBain in the other three. This leaves him down in 88th place in the provisional rankings and needing several more wins if he is going to retain his place on the professional circuit for another season.
With more ranking points available at the UK Championship than any other tournament, that would be a great place to start winning as he is scheduled to meet Kuldesh Johal in the first round next month.