Every morning before dawn, whilst the old mining town of Kolar Gold Fields was still in its sleep, a teenage girl would be waiting on a cold railway platform with two very odd things in her hands: a cue stick case and a stack of commerce textbooks. For three gruelling years the chugging of the passenger train to Bengaluru was her study hall, her dining car and her safe haven. The world was at rest and she was using those 100 kms to her advantage, working through her angles in her head and quietly turning a small-town girl into India’s Junior World No.1.
Today Keerthana is one of the most prominent names in the world of cue sports. A former Junior World Champion with 13 international medals for India, she is also an Income Tax Inspector in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Her life is a real-life example of how you can be a world class athlete and have a very demanding professional career too and it doesn’t have to be at each other’s expense.
From KGF to Bengaluru: The 100-Kilometre Daily Commute That Built a Champion
Keerthana’s sporting journey began at 14, just out of pure curiosity as she was watching her dad play. She had a natural touch and a good sense of space and her dad saw that and encouraged her to go the competitive route. He got her into professional coaching through the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) in Bengaluru.
Living in Kolar Gold Fields was a logistical nightmare in terms of getting around. You simply couldn’t get to school to practice. Your practice was restricted to the weekends. When you started your PUC you committed to a very rigorous regime. You’d take the early morning passenger to Bengaluru every day, do hours of table drills, positional play and safety at KSBA and then catch the evening train back. You turned the hours on the train into hours of study, going through your commerce books under the dim lights of the carriage.
Rather than let the sheer exhaustion of it all get the better of her, she used those three years on the rails to build up a very strong work ethic. She became a very efficient, very adaptable learner and went on to get her B.Com. with very good marks, progressing very steadily up the national and international lists.
Balancing the Green Baize with Public Service: Life as an Income Tax Inspector
Elite athletes are frequently expected to put their academics to one side, but Keerthana was determined not to. Her academic credentials as well as her sporting achievements got her a job with the Income Tax Department in Mumbai.
Serving as an Income Tax Inspector requires the same mental composure as championship snooker. Auditing files is all about precision, just as snooker is all about precision. The mental stillness required to clear a decisive break under the glare of the international TV lights is the same as the mental stillness required to audit files. You need to be absolutely still in your mind.
Breaking the Bronze Barrier: The Relentless Climb to Senior World Championship Silver
The move from junior to senior level was a huge learning curve. Competing against the more experienced international players at the IBSF World Championships, Keerthana managed to secure podium finishes year on year, taking out consecutive bronzes.
Whilst standing on a world podium for India is an outstanding achievement, the fact that she kept coming up against the semi-finals time and again was a bit of a mixed bag. Rather than just accepting a bronze, Keerthana worked on her game and her shot selection. She eventually did break through the semi-final barrier to win the Senior World Championship Silver medal. That was the definitive proof of her progression and it was that which focused her absolutely on the one thing she wanted to achieve: win the Senior World Gold.
The Champion’s Creed: Trusting Consistency Over Instant Results
Keerthana Pandian’s rise is a perfect example of world class being no accident of luck. It’s the product of the unsung hours that no one sees, the hours spent on the cold railway platform, the hours spent in the gym in solitary training, the mental toughness that you have to have to get back up after a bad tournament finish.
Her message to anyone who’s got an ambition is simply this: believe in yourself and don’t give up on your dream. Success is all about patience, it’s all about preparation and it’s all about learning from your mistakes. If you just keep on going, every day, every little step you take brings you ever closer to the podium.
