Tamil Nadu has made its mark as a hub for producing chess greats as young as 14 years old. But now in cue sports too, children, who are barely into their teens, are grandly displaying their talent.
A few days back, 14-year-old Rahul Williams (CDBSA) from Coimbatore outsmarted seasoned player Freddy (MRC) by 4-1 in the best-of-7 final of the Chandrasekar and S Magesh Memorial Non-Ranking Snooker Championship held at Chennai.
Rahul, a class 8 student of Elango Metric school, Coimbatore, was inspired by his father and coach Jehan Wills, to take up the sport. Jehan is a former junior Kerala state player who won the state junior championship for two consecutive years. He has also been Tamil Nadu No. 3 in the state rankings. So it was natural for Rahul to lean towards snooker. “Rahul started his snooker career at the age of 10 in 2022. In 2023, he participated in the state ranking, achieved fourth position, and participated in nationals. In 2024, he won a gold medal in Tamil Nadu state junior snooker and in billiards, got a silver. He also excelled in the sub-juniors bagging silver in billiards and snooker,” said Jehan.
"In the same year, he participated in the national snooker championship and secured 5th position. Rahul was selected to represent India for the Under-21 & 17 World Snooker Championship held at Bangalore, and he was in the top six of the world U21 championship, additionally, he is the only player to reach the top eight at the age of 13.”
In the last two years, Rahul has been promising, and this has prompted Jehan to allow the youngster to pursue cue sports as a career. “Rahul won the state junior title in 2024. The passion he had towards the game made me decide to make him a professional player and compete in the world events,” said Jehan.
Rahul aims to become a professional player in the international circuit and draws inspiration from current world champion Xhao Xingtong. He has also beaten several high-ranking players. “Playing against S Chang from Hong Kong in the U-21 World Championship 2024 event was a tough one. But Rahul managed to take the final frame and win the match,” said Jehan.
He is mentally strong, not intimidated by seniors, and can improve with every tournament. “In 2025, he upset the senior-most player and former state No. 2 Loganathan at an All India Open tournament held at Chennai. One of his best performances was when he made an 83 break against Vijaya Shankar at the Towers Club All India Open tournament. Then, he made a shirt foul and wasn’t able to continue the break. In non-medalist tournaments, he played against a lot of senior players, learned a lot, and handled the pressure in a good manner,” pointed out Jehan.
Rahul is currently a snooker player focussing on events pertaining to the game. He is also practicing billiards, and Jehan is confident that with more exposure and experience, Rahul could be a better billiards player too.