Seven in her bag, many more in her mind

This story was sheer luck when I was covering the World woman snooker championship for the Deccan Herald in Delhi in 1994, that I saw the Hindu correspondent talking to Allison Fisher who was all time great in the table top ball game. So I just joined in the chat and asked a few questions myself and later found that this chat turned out to be a Q&A piece.

At 26, Allison Fisher has already won the women’s world snooker championship seven times. In the latest edition of the championship, in Delhi, Fisher fought off Stacey Hillyard to complete a hat-trick of triumphs too.
In a dozen years in the game Fisher could proudly say she ahs won all there is in the women’s game. Not to rest on her laurels, the blonde from Hertfordshire in Sussex has stormed the mal bastion and promises to make a success of it.
Fisher spoke to Deccan Herald during the Highball world championship at hotel Le Meridien in the capital. Excerpts:

Q: When and how did you take to this game?
A: When I was seven years old I saw this game on TV and took a keen interest in it. In the evenings my parents used to take me to some of the social clubs. Most of them had a six-foot table and that is where I started my game when I was about eight. At 14, I got the big break when I was allowed to play with men.

Q: is anybody else in your family into the game?
A: No, nobody, though my father is trying to now. All my three brothers tried and gave up because the have no patience.

Q: Which matches would you rate as your best and the worst in your professional career?
A: I would rate the semi-finals here against Tessa Davidson as the best. I was three games up only to see the fourth which I by a difference of two points. This was the toughest and memorable one. The worst was again with Tessa in the semi-final of the 1990 world championship where I lost 5-2. I was not able to play one shot straight after being the world champion. That embarrassed me most.

Q: Which other player do you respect on the circuit?
A: I respect almost all of them but I have special regard for Tessa Davidson and Stacey Hillyar. Among men Steve Davis is the only one I respect though (Jimmy) White and Stephen Hendry are also good players.

Q: Who are the players to look for in the future?
A: Among the ladies, it is Kelly Fisher which in the men’s it is Ronnie O’Sullivan, because both of them are good positional players and crack potters.

Q: What made you move over to the men’s circuit?
A: I didn’t have much to prove on the ladies circuit. What was to be achieved had been done time and again. Besides there is more money and more experience to be had on the men’s circuit. In the women’s game, there is not so much prize money. I found it very difficult to find sponsor four or five years ago, and I remember I had to play with the same cue for close to ten years. Now that I am in the men’s circuit, and in the top 200, I have signed a four year contract with a Chinese company named Cue-Tec.
It is also a challenge for me and I have not taken it lightly though I have lost close matches to O’Sullivan and (Alan) MCManus. By the end of 1995 I think I will be able to challenge even the best players even if I am not able to beat them.
The standard of the ladies snooker has improved. While in the late 80s you had to wait till the semi-final for a good match, there are better matches to be had now right from the start. The men’s tournaments continue to get more publicity while the ladies events are pushed backstage.

Q: What can be done to improve the ladies scene?
A: All I can say is we need some dedicated people who have no other jobs other than making sure that tournaments are held regularly to enable the players to improve their skills and find sponsor for themselves.

Q: Why did you suggest clubs for ladies when they are already plenty of them in London?
A: Because the clubs we have back home are not places where a lady could go and have a few decent games.

Q: Have you ever played billiards?
A: I did try long back when I first won the world championship. Billiards needs more patience while snooker is a game which can be finished off. Billiards is very technical and I am not qualified for it right now.

Faithful Women

These pictures of Indian Hindu woman show the religious side of them. They were captured by me during my visits for the Maha Kumbh Mela at the Mahakaleshwar temple near the river Kshipra at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh in 2004. The Hindu woman flocked in large numbers to drench themselves with the holy water, which takes place once in twelve years. Apart from the Indian Hindu Woman they were some foreigners too.


A elderly lady and a sadhvi from orrisa performs the aarti on the banks of the river kshipra in Ujjain on the first Shahi Snan at Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela.



Hindu ladies take a holy dip at Kshipra river on the eve of the beginning for the holy month at the Simhastha in Ujjain.






A local woman pushes other Hindu woman to the Kshipra River in her push cart for rupees 10 per person, (left) even as a couple take a dip at the river kshipra in the foreground of a partly submerged shivling and nandhi in Ujjain. Thousands of Hindus have already started to take the holy dip to avoid the huge gathering during the holy month of Simhastha alos know as the Maha Kumbh Mela.

Male family members hold on to a lady claiming to be possessed by ghosts even as a pundit try's to perform a pooja to route out the evil spirit at the Asha Ram Bapu Akhara (left), as a Hindu Devout pray in front of the more than 1.8 corer mini clay Shiv lings which was made by the devotees attending the Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela in Ujjain.

Hindu devotees offering their prayers on the banks of river Kshipra during the first shahi snan in the month long Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela in Ujjainnear the Mahakaleshwara Temple.




A Hindu Devotee silhouetted against the sun rays from the river Kshipra at Ujjain while she washes her clothes from the holy water, (left) as another woman pours the holy water to seek the blessings of the Sun god during the Holy month of the Maha Kumbh Mela in the once in 12 years Simhastha.



A lady walks back to the banks of river Kshipra after taking a dip on the eve of the beginning of the holy month (top left) A Hindu devout seen offering her prayers to the sun god on the banks of river Kshipra on the first shahi snan (top) and woman volunteers of a Hindu group seen with caps showing the anti cow slaughter movement of the state government of Madhya Pradesh in Ujjain during the Month long Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela.


Artist From England seen sketching the Simhastha Camp area in Ujjain at the month long Kumbh Mela from one of the Akhara (left) as a Japnese lady chats with a Indian sadhu at an akhara (right). The Kumbh mela is an huge International attraction in which hundreds of foreign tourist come over to India to witness the Indian religious ethos.

A Japanese woman along with her friend from Brazil who did not want to give their names pray to the sun god with both their palms locked into one on the banks of the river Kshipra (left) as another woman from Germany enjoys her holy bath with the holy water in the river Kshipra during the holy month of Maha Kumbh Mela at Ujjain in 2004.

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