Vidya Pillai
Vidya Viswanathan Pillai is an Indian professional snooker player. Vidya Pillai grew up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. In recognition of her achievements, the Government of Karnataka bestowed her with the Ekalavya award in 2016 for outstanding performance in Sports. She has won several International medals for India and in 2013 won the gold medal in the IBSF World Team Snooker Championship, Gold in the IBSF Australian Women's Ranking Snooker Championship in 2016 and was the first Indian woman to reach the finals of the WLBSA World Women's Snooker Championship in 2017. She is also a 9-time winner of the National Championship Title.
National career
Vidya Pillai credits former Indian international cricketer Hemang Badani for introducing her to the sport when she was aged 22, and the late national billiards champion, TG Kamala Devi, for inspiring her. Pillai is a ten-time Women's National Snooker Champion, her latest victory coming in 2020. She has finished runner-up in three different editions of the tournament, in 2006, 2009 and 2015. She also won the Indian National 6-Red Snooker Championship in 2013 & the Indian National 9-Ball Pool Championship in 2005.In 2017 she was a part of the Chennai Strikers in the Indian Cue Masters League, where she was teamed up with Pankaj Advani for mixed doubles.
In 2018, Vidya started working with the acclaimed SightRight Accredited coach Pranit Ramchandani.