Vidya Viswanathan Pillai (born 26 November 1977) is an Indian professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player. Vidya Pillai grew up in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. In recognition of her achievements, the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

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.

International career

Vidya Pillai made her first international appearance at the 2007 IBSF World Snooker Championship (Ladies) and lost in the quarter-finals. Ever since, she has won a gold medal in the IBSF World Team Snooker Championship in 2013, Gold in the IBSF Australian Women's Ranking Snooker Championship in 2016, Gold in the IBSF Australian Open Women's Snooker Championship in 2010, Two Silver medals in the IBSF World 6 Reds Snooker Championship Women in 2015 and 2016, one Silver in the IBSF World Team Snooker Championship in 2016, two Bronze medals IBSF World Snooker Championship in 2010 and 2012, one Bronze in the IBSF World Team Snooker Championship in 2014 and reached the semi-finals at the WLBSA World Billiards Championship in 2008. She has also won a silver medal at the Asian Billiard Sport Championship held at Doha in 2016. She was runner-up to

Ng On-yee Ng On-yee (; born 17 November 1990) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one position in the World Women's Sno ...

at the WLBSA World Women's Snooker Championship in 2017.

Career honours

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Vidya 1977 births Living people Indian snooker players Loyola College, Chennai alumni Sportspeople from Chennai Female snooker players Sportswomen from Tamil Nadu Cue sports players at the 2006 Asian Games Cue sports players at the 2010 Asian Games Cue sports players from Tamil Nadu Asian Games competitors for India People from Tiruchirappalli