Aditya Mehta

Aditya Mehta

Aditya Mehta at the 2014 German Masters
Born (1985-10-31) October 31, 1985
Maharashtra, India
Sport country  India
Nickname The Sun Of Indian Snooker [1][2]
Professional 2008/09, 2011–
Highest ranking 49 (May–June, August–November 2014 and February–March 2015)[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Current ranking 101 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £118,233[11]
Highest break 147 (2014 Paul Hunter Classic)
Century breaks 32[11]
Best ranking finish Runner-up (2013 Indian Open)
Medal record
Men's snooker
Representing  India
World Games
2013 Cali Singles
Asian Games
2006 Doha Team
2010 Guangzhou Singles
2010 Guangzhou Team
Asian Indoor Games
2009 Ho Chi Minh City Team
Representing Independent Olympic Athletes
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
2013 Incheon Singles
2013 Incheon Team

Aditya Mehta (born 31 October 1985 in Maharashtra) is an Indian professional snooker player. He practises with Alfie Burden and Anthony Hamilton in London.[12]

In 2013, Mehta became the first Indian to reach the final of a ranking tournament at his home event, the Indian Open. In the 2014 Paul Hunter Classic, Mehta made his first ever Maximum break in professional competition.

Career

Early career

Mehta began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2004, at the time the second-level professional tour.[13] He was nominated for a Main Tour place for the 2008/2009 season. He was the first Indian to play on Main Tour since Yasin Merchant did in the 1990s.[14] He fell off the tour at the end of the season but regained a place for the 2011/2012 season due to being awarded the Asian nomination.[15] Aditya won a Silver and a Bronze medal in Men's Snooker Team and Men's Snooker Singles respectively, at the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China.

2011/2012 season

In the 2011/2012 season Mehta would need to win four qualifying matches to reach the main draws of all ranking events. He came closest to doing so in the second event of the season, the Shanghai Masters. Mehta beat Stuart Carrington 5–0, Rod Lawler and Jamie Jones both 5–4, before losing to former world number 6 Ryan Day 2–5.[16] He played in 10 of the 12 minor ranking PTC Events, with his best result coming in Event 9 where he beat two-time World Championship runner-up Matthew Stevens 4–3 in the last 16, but then lost to Martin Gould 1–4 in the quarter-finals.[17] In April, Mehta won the 2012 Asian Snooker Championship with a 7–5 victory over compatriot Pankaj Advani.[18] He finished the snooker season ranked world number 80 and therefore out of the top 64 who retain their places for the next season, however, due to his recent win he earned a spot on the tour for the 2012/2013 season.[19]

2012/2013 season

Mehta started the season by almost qualifying for the first tournament of the season, the Wuxi Classic. He beat Sam Baird 5–3, James Wattana and Jimmy White both 5–1, but then lost out to Jamie Cope 4–5 in the final round.[20] He also lost in the final qualifying round for the Shanghai Masters following a 3–5 defeat to Mark King.[20]

Mehta reached the main stage of a ranking event for the first time in his career in August, by qualifying for the International Championship. He overcame Michael Leslie and Mike Dunn, both by 6–3 scorelines, and then came back from 3–5 down to beat Jimmy White for the second time this season.[20][21] In the last round he gained revenge over Jamie Cope following his loss at the same stage in the Wuxi Classic, by triumphing 6–4 to seal his place at the event in Chengdu, China, in October.[20] There he defeated Zhu Yinghui in the wildcard round, before winning 6–4 against Stuart Bingham, who had already won two titles earlier in the season, to set up a last 16 meeting with world number two Judd Trump.[20][22] In his first televised match in a major ranking tournament Mehta was outclassed by his opponent as he lost 0–6.[22] However, his run in the tournament matched the best performance by an Indian player in a ranking event set by Yasin Merchant over two decades earlier.[23] The rest of the season was quiet for Mehta as he could not qualify for another event, with his year ending in the second round of World Championship Qualifying, following a 9–10 loss to Alan McManus.[24] He finished the season ranked world number 73.[25]

Mehta at 2014 German Masters

2013/2014 season

In July 2013, Mehta won the World Games by beating Liang Wenbo 3–0 in the final to become the first Indian to win the gold medal.[26] The 2013/2014 season saw the introduction of a ranking event held in India for the first time. Mehta qualified for it by seeing off Xiao Guodong 4–2.[27] In the first round of the event held in New Delhi he made a break of 127 in the deciding frame against Peter Ebdon to win 4–3 and then beat Hammad Miah 4–1 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time in his career.[28][29] Mehta defeated two-time world champion Mark Williams 4–2 to face compatriot Pankaj Advani in the quarter-finals in an iconic match in Indian snooker as the winner would be the first semi-finalist of a ranking event in the country's history.[30] In a match heavily bound in tactical play it was Mehta who triumphed with a 4–3 win.[31] His remarkable run continued as he held his nerve from 3–0 up against Stephen Maguire to edge through 4–3 and reach the final.[32] His tournament came to an abrupt end, however, as he lost 5–0 to Ding Junhui but he did earn a cheque of £25,000 as the tournament's runner-up.[33] A month later he was beaten in the quarter-finals of the minor-ranking Antwerp Open 4–0 by Jack Lisowski and finished 29th on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 25 who reached the Finals.[34] Mehta's season was unremarkable after that as he could not advance beyond the first round of a ranking event.[27] He increased his ranking by 24 places during the season to end it as the world number 49.[35]

2014/2015 season

Mehta could not come through the qualifying rounds of the first three ranking events of the 2014/2015 season, before beating James Wattana 6–3 to play in the International Championship where he was whitewashed 6–0 by Michael White in the first round.[36] At the UK Championship he saw off Alex Davies 6–4, before losing 6–1 to Judd Trump in the second round.[37] He reached the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time this year by eliminating Sydney Wilson 4–0 and world number five Barry Hawkins 4–2 at the Welsh Open, but Alan McManus beat Mehta 4–0.[38] Mehta held a 3–0 lead over Mark King and missed match ball to wrap it up 4–1. Instead, King levelled at 3–3 and Mehta took the deciding frame to play world number eight Ricky Walden in the second round.[39] Mehta was defeated 4–2 and stated that the difference between his 50th placing in the world rankings and Walden's was obvious in the match.[40] His only match before the end of the season was a 10–7 loss to Jak Jones in the opening round of World Championship qualifying.[36]

2015/2016 season

Mehta qualified for the International Championship, but lost in the wildcard round 6–4 to Wang Yuchen.[41] Before the UK Championship he stated that a neck injury sustained in June 2014 had been affecting his practice hours and confidence in his game. He had also changed his stance to the more conventional one of keeping the right leg straight instead of bending both legs, which he had used for the previous eight years.[42][43] Mehta defeated Sam Baird 6–5 at the UK, before losing 6–2 to Neil Robertson in the second round.[41] He resigned from the tour in February 2016 in order to recover from his neck injury.[43] Mehta has qualified for a two-year tour card due to finishing 53rd on the European Order of Merit and plans to resume his career next season.[44]

Other

Aditya Mehta is brand ambassador of Snooker Portal www.rkgsnooker.com and writes regular blog posts and column for Indian Sports portal – [45]

Performance and Rankings timeline

Tournament 2004/
05		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17
Ranking[46][nb 1] UR[nb 2][nb 3] UR[nb 2] 84[nb 4] UR[nb 4] UR[nb 2] 80[nb 5] 73 49 54 112[nb 6]
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not Held Minor-Ranking A
Indian Open Not Held F 2R NH LQ
World Open[nb 8] A LQ A A LQ LQ 1R Not Held A
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 9] Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event A
Shanghai Masters Not Held LQ WR A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R
International Championship Not Held 2R 1R 1R WR 2R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 2R
UK Championship A LQ A A LQ LQ 1R 2R 2R 1R
Scottish Open Tournament Not Held MR Not Held
German Masters Not Held A LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ
Welsh Open A LQ A A LQ LQ 1R 3R A
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 10] Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open A LQ A A LQ LQ 1R LQ A
World Championship LQ LQ A A LQ LQ LQ LQ A
Ranking & variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Not Held Variant Format Event
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 11] Not Held 2R 1R A NH 2R A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Northern Ireland Trophy Not Held LQ Not Held
Bahrain Championship Not Held LQ Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 12] Not Held Non-Ranking LQ LQ LQ Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ NH
Former variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Not Held A A 1R 1R 2R WD RV
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 3 New players don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. 1 2 He was an amateur.
  5. ↑ Players qualified through Indian nomination started the season without ranking points.
  6. ↑ Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.
  7. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (2004/2005–2009/2010), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  9. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005)
  10. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  11. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  12. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 1 (0 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2013 Indian Open China Ding Junhui 0–5

References

  1. ↑ Used first by Ravindra Kumar Gupta
  2. ↑ "Aditya Mehta-The Sun Of Indian Snooker". RKG Snooker. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Prize Money Rankings after the World Championship 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "World Rankings after the Riga Open 2014 (ET1)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "World Rankings after the Paul Hunter Classic 2014 (ET2)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "World Rankings after the Shanghai Masters 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  7. ↑ "World Rankings after the Bulgarian Open 2014 (ET3)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "World Rankings after the Haining Open 2014 (AT2)" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "World Rankings after the German Masters 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "World Rankings after the BetVictor Welsh Open 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  11. 1 2 "Career-total Statistics for Aditya Mehta – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Aditya Mehta Q&A". World Snooker. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "Aditya Mehta – Season 2004/2005". Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  14. ↑ "Bangkok tuned me up for pro circuit: Mehta". India Times. July 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  15. ↑ "2011/12 Tour Players". World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  16. ↑ "Aditya Mehta 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  17. ↑ "Order of Merit". WWW Snooker. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "Mehta pips Advani in all-Indian final". Gulf Times. 29 April 2012. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  19. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 "Aditya Mehta 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  21. ↑ "Xiao Buried By Pinches Fight-Back". World Snooker. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Indian Express Runs Down Bingham". World Snooker. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  23. ↑ "After dream run, wake up call for Aditya". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  24. ↑ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  25. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  26. ↑ "Happy to have graduated from bronze to gold: Aditya Mehta". The Hindu. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  27. 1 2 "Aditya Mehta 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  28. ↑ "Indian Open snooker: Aditya Mehta defeats former world No. 1 Ebdon". IBN Live. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  29. ↑ "Aditya Mehta enters round of 16 at Indian Open". The Hindu. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  30. ↑ "Aditya Mehta to clash with Pankaj Advani in quarters of Indian Open". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  31. ↑ "Indian Open snooker: Aditya Mehta makes history in Delhi". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  32. ↑ "Aditya Mehta's dream run continues". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  33. ↑ "Ding Junhui beats Aditya Mehta to win Indian Open title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  34. ↑ "European Order of Merit 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  35. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  36. 1 2 "Aditya Mehta 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  37. ↑ "Confident Judd Trump says he is "easily playing well enough" to lift second UK Snooker Championship crown at York Barbican". The Press (York). Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  38. ↑ "Selby Keeps Hot Streak Going". World Snooker. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  39. ↑ "Aditya Mehta upsets Mark King to keep Indian hopes alive". Zee News. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  40. ↑ "Indian Open snooker: England's Walden stops Aditya Mehta". Business Standard. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  41. 1 2 "Aditya Mehta 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  42. ↑ "It's been below par since the World Cup: Aditya Mehta". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  43. 1 2 "Aditya Mehta Resigns from Tour". World Snooker. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  44. ↑ "European Order of Merit 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  45. ↑
  46. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

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