Mumbai: Ishpreet Singh Chadha has developed a penchant for pulling off upsets on the professional snooker tour. Earlier this month, he stunned top seed and defending champion Gary Wilson in the first round of the Welsh Open.
With a chuckle, he explains that it was not his first big win.
“It was still a good win, to beat a defending champion in any tournament is not easy,” he told HT over the phone. “(Wilson) is one of the top 15 players currently. Any win (over a player of that quality) is a good win.”
Chadha, a 28-year-old from Mumbai, is in his second year on the professional tour. In that time, he has scored solid wins over former world champions Stuart Bingham, Luca Brecel, Graeme Dott and Mark Selby. All of it has put him in good stead to retain his spot on the circuit for next season.
The world No.67 first travelled to the United Kingdom when he received a two-year card for the world tour. From the heat and humidity of Mumbai to the cold British weather, it took him and his mother, who accompanies him, some time to settle in. But in terms of his snooker, Chadha took advantage of the new opportunities coming his way.
“Over here you get to play 12 to 14 events a year and they all come one after the other,” said Chadha, who is supported by BPCL. “You need to be prepared all the time. I think that’s the major difference because in India we don’t have as many tournaments of this scale. Everything is so big over here, the prize money, the event structure, the level of the players…”
All this comes in his second spell in snooker.
Once a budding talent after taking up the cue sport as an 11-year-old, Chadha suffered a major ankle injury in 2017 when he tripped over an uneven surface during a walk. He was confined to the bed for six months. During that time though, he took up Esports.
Snooker took a backseat even after he recovered, as he played for a few high-profile teams. But once the pandemic struck, he found a second calling in cue-sports.
“Because of lockdown, (all snooker) players were equal because nobody had played for many months. That was a good chance for me to get back,” he said.
The first step was to undergo rigorous training with his former coach, Asian Games gold medallist Yasin Merchant. At the same time, he worked on his fitness, losing over 20kgs to get back into shape. Winning the national championship in 2021 gave his confidence a boost, setting him on course to earning a spot on the pro circuit.
Along the way, he became the first Indian since Aditya Mehta in 2013 to reach the semi-final of an event, when Chadha beat the likes of Dott and Selby to reach the last four of the 2024 English Open.
With only two events left this season, he is almost certain of retaining his spot on tour. Mentally though, he is sure he belongs there.
