Room 4 in SAC is always kept open between 5 to 11 PM, inside which the snooker team can be seen practising diligently for BOSM. The players have divided themselves into groups of two or three to practice in specific time slots.

There are two teams of four players each that represent BITS Pilani. The players are practicing various drills to sharpen their skills. The most common one is pertaining to ‘break building’, which refers to uninterrupted potting of balls to win maximum points.  

The team has been consistently doing well in the previous editions of BOSM by winning a gold and silver in ‘18, two silvers and one gold in ‘17, and a gold and silver in ‘16. They will be aiming to continue their successful run in the 2019 edition as well.

This year, the team has recruited four hardworking players. One of the new recruits has experience playing in tournaments earlier, while the other recruits are equally promising and talented. The team particularly looked for dedicated and determined aspirants to make themselves a formidable side going into BOSM. 

Anirudh Sharma, an admirer of the snooker great Alex Higgins, is the vice-captain of the BOSM snooker team. He started playing snooker while he was in school. He fondly recalls how he used to sometimes miss classes to play snooker. However, what he cherishes the most is playing at the national level.

Anirudh acknowledges that managing academics and sports was never easy. He says that it is important to excel in fields other than academics; with proper time management, it is not impossible. As the vice-captain, he plays a key role in mentoring and guiding the new entrants into the team. He advises them to play safe as overplaying shots can present the opponent with the opportunity to clear the table. By avoiding unnecessary risks, one can put the opponent under pressure.

Anirudh wishes that the team had more than one table of accurate dimensions to practice. However, he also believes that challenges like these only motivate the team to be better than they were before. He is very happy with efforts the team is putting in for the tournament and feels confident of winning a gold this year too.