Kothari appointed chief national cuesports coach
Former world billiards champion Manoj Kothari was today appointed chief national cuesports coach by the Sports Authority of India for a period of one year.
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New Delhi: Former world billiards champion
Manoj Kothari was today appointed chief national cuesports
coach by the Sports Authority of India for a period of one
year.
Kothari, a mechanical engineer by profession, was handed
the job on the recommendation of the Billiards and Snooker
Federation of India.
"I am absolutely delighted. The federation told me that
for so many years you have worked with us like a coach, then
why don`t you take up the full-time job. They said you are the
finest player the game has ever seen and your mentoring will
help young players achieve success at both national and
international level," Kothari said.
"Whatever federation asked me to do, whether it`s
coaching, ministry related work or making players understand
the nuances of the game, I have done everything and may be the
BSFI felt that it`s time to reward me with the top job," added
Kothari, who retired from competitive play in the year 2003.
Kothari said his priorities as coach will be to spread
the popularity of the game at the national level and to
strengthen India`s stature in the Pool and Snooker discipline.
"Now there is going to be lot more responsibility on my
shoulders. My priorities will be to take the game to different
cities and improve India`s standing in the pool and Snooker.”
"Our game still needs some improvement. We are not as
good as English players in terms of technique. We still need
to work on that area. Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi have done
extremely well at the international stage to establish India`s
name in Billiards and I want young players to excel like
them," said Kothari.
Having more than two decades of experience in the
Corporate world as engineer -Quality Control, Kothari easily
introduced Management tools and techniques like Swot analysis,
Graphs, charts, diagrams etc to help players record, analyse
and understand their level of play.
Kothari, before joining the game as a professional, had
worked for 20 years for some of the finest corporate names in
the country and said the decision to quit the corporate career
was completely passion driven.
In July 2004, acknowledging Kothari`s prowess in the
field of Billiards and Snooker, ONGC inducted him as coach of
their Cue Sports Team comprising Pankaj Advani, Alok Kumar,
Sourav Kothari, Dhruv Sitwala and Rupesh Shah.
In August 2005, Kothari added yet another feather to his
cap when he was conferred with the prestigious Dhyan Chand
Award by the then erstwhile President of India A P J Abdul
Kalam.
Meanwhile, commenting on Kothari`s selection as the chief
coach, BSFI vice-president Ravi Tandon said, "I was the one
who
first said to him that take up the job of coaching. I was the
person who convinced him. I am very much happy with the
decision and looking forward for some good results."
PTI
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