Vidya Pillai

Vidya Pillai
birthday	November 26, 1977
place of birth	Tiruchirappalli
nationality	India
Prize money	£ 2,400
Highest break	?
Success at amateur tournaments
National championships	10
Best results
World championships	Third place (2010)
Continental Championships	Semi-finals (2017)

Vidya Pillai (born November 26, 1977 in Tiruchirappalli , Tamil Nadu ) is an Indian snooker player . With ten championships she is the record winner of the women at the Indian snooker championship .

Career

Beginnings in national snooker

She won her first national title in women's snooker in 2003. After a year of abstinence, she won for the second time in 2005, and she also won the 9-ball championship for the first time . In 2006 she won the Indian billiards championship and lost in the final of the snooker championship. In 2007 she reached the final of the 8-ball championship, which she lost, as well as the quarter-finals of the billiards championship and won the women's snooker championship for the third time. In addition, Pillai was also active on an international level; she reached the quarter-finals at the World Amateur Women's Championships and the Asian Indoor Games , where she was eliminated both times.

In 2008 she lost the final of the 8-ball championship, and she won the women's championship again, for the fourth time. Furthermore, she took part again in the Amateur World Cup for women, where she survived the group stage with five wins and one loss to Reanne Evans and lost to Emma Bonney after beating Australian Linda Lucas in the round of 16 . The next year she had to admit defeat in the round of 16 to the Australian Kathy Parashis , in addition, she lost in the final of the Indian women's snooker championship against Meenal Thakur . In 2010 she won this title back and reached the finals of the 8-pool championship and the first championship for women in Six-Red-Snooker in India, the latter again losing to Meenal Thakur. She was also successful on an international level, winning the game for third place against the Belgian Wendy Jans at the amateur women's world championships after a 4-0 defeat in the semi-finals against Ng On Yee , and she also won the women's Australian Open . In 2011 she won the Indian women's snooker championship again and reached fourth place in the 8-ball championship and the quarter-finals in the billiards championship, where she was eliminated.

International breakthrough

In 2012 she again took part in the Women's Amateur World Championship, alongside Arantxa Sanchis as the only Indian woman. She survived the group stage and finally the semi-finals without defeat, but lost 4-0 to the eventual winner Wendy Jans. A year later she regained the Indian women's championship title, winning it for the seventh time. In addition, she won the IBSF women's snooker team championship and reached the second round of the amateur world championships, where she had to admit defeat to her compatriot Chitra Magimairaj . She also won the Indian Six Red Women's Championship for the first time. In 2014 she won the Indian Women's Championship for the eighth time and took third place at the IBSF Team World Championship. In addition, she reached the second round again at the Women's Amateur World Championship, where this time she was defeated by Russian Anastasija Singurindi . In 2015 she lost in the final of the Indian Women's Championship against Amee Kamani and in the final of the Amateur 6 Red Snooker World Championship for women with 2: 5 against Ng On Yee. At the normal World Amateur Championship she had to admit defeat to Wendy Jans in the quarterfinals.

In 2016 she won the Indian Women's Snooker Championship for the ninth and so far last time and again reached the final of the 6-Red Amateur World Championship, which she lost again, this time against Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan . Furthermore, she took part again in the Women's Amateur World Championship, where she again failed in the second round to Chitra Magimairaj. In 2017, after victories over Tatjana Vasiljeva , Katrina Wan and Rebecca Kenna, she reached the final of the Women's World Snooker Championship . She met last year's finalist Ng On Yee and fought with her for the title until the last possible frame, but Pillai lost 56:66 on the last pink ball, so Ng On Yee won 5-6. She also took part in the Women's Snooker Asia Championship , where she was eliminated again in the semifinals against Ng On Yee. In 2017 she was eliminated from the group stage of the IBSF 6 Women's Red Amateur World Championship with just one win from three games. At the Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games , she lost in Six-Red-Snooker in the quarterfinals against the eventual winner Waratthanun Sukritthanes . At the Amateur Women's World Cup she reached the quarter-finals, where she was eliminated 3: 4 by Ng On Yee.

In 2018, Pillai took part in the Women's Amateur World Cup in Myanmar, where she failed after surviving the group stage in the round of 16 at Ploychompoo Laokiatphong . In 2020, she achieved her tenth victory in the national women's championship of India.

Web links

• Profile of Vidya Pillai on CueTracker

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ron Florax: Career Total Statistics For Vidya Pillai - Non-professional Results. Cuetracker.net, accessed January 5, 2019 .  
2. ↑ Vidya Pillai. The Times of India , January 19, 2018, accessed January 5, 2019 .  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Vidya Pillai. Cue Sports India, September 25, 2015, accessed January 5, 2019 .  
4. ^ Vidya Pillai - All Available. snooker.org, 2017, accessed January 5, 2019 .  
5. ↑ Results - Women Snooker - Main. Cue Sports India, accessed February 15, 2020 .