Bengaluru: Chitra Magimairaj's cue sports career has largely been about misses rather than hits. Having played the sport at the elite level for nearly two-and-a-half decades, the 53-year-old has far more runner-up finishes than trophies in her cabinet.
Taking that last step towards glory has always been the hardest part for the Bengalurean, who has just one national title each in billiards and 6-red snooker - pool excluded. Be it the mental block that grows more burdensome with every final failure, bout of nerves or inability to seize the moment... even Chitra has struggled to find answers for her last-step stumbles.
Even at the Pool Nationals last year in Indore, despite having played impressively right throughout, she succumbed to old rival Vidya Pillai in the 9-ball final. In the 10-ball event, she lost in the semifinals before salvaging a bronze. The losses came despite she being the sole women's professional pool player in the draw. Chitra gave up snooker and billiards three years ago to focus solely on pool.
11 arrested for black-marketing of RCB-CSK IPL match tickets outside Chinnaswamy stadiumIt was this demon she was up against when she squared off against Madhya Pradesh's Ishika Shah in the final of 9-ball pool Nationals in Ludhiana about a week ago. But this time, she was a lot more assured and roared to 7-4 win to snap a long title drought at the national championships. That much-needed title triumph gave her plenty of confidence in the 10-ball event, where she defeated Neena Praveen 6-4 in the final to complete a grand double.
"It feels great, it's like a big monkey off my back now," an elated Chitra told DH. "Last year, I really wanted to win the nationals because I was the sole women's professional player in the draw. I had Predator as a sponsor. I really wanted to impress them. I wanted to show that I was India's No. 1 pool player. Because of it, I ended up putting a lot of pressure on myself.
"So this year, I wanted to take it easy. I was very well prepared. What helped me was the fact that I've been focussing solely on pool the last three years. All that practice paid off beautifully in the end. It's great to be holding two national titles. This will give me a lot of confidence when I go for events abroad," added Chitra who is now looking forward to a series of events in South East Asia.