Aditya Mehta

Aditya Mehta (born 31 October 1985 in Mumbai, India) is an Indian former professional snooker player. He participated on the World Snooker Tour for the 2007–08 season, and between 2011 and 2018. He reached a highest world ranking of 49. Mehta participated in the final of ranking event for the first time at the 2013 Indian Open where he played Ding Junhui, but lost 0–5.

Mehta has several medals at the Asian and World Games. He won the gold at the men's event at the 2013 World Games, and the team event at the 2009 Asian Games. Mehta compiled a total of 41 century breaks whilst on tour, the highest of which was at the 2014 Paul Hunter Classic where he made his first ever maximum break in competition.

Career

Early career

Mehta was born on 31 October 1985 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He began his career by playing Challenge Tour from 2004. He was nominated for a Main Tour place for the 2008–09 season by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports after he finished as runner-up at the 2008 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship. He was the first Indian to play on the Main Tour since Yasin Merchant did in the 1990s. He was unable to retain his place on the Tour at the end of the season having not qualified for a single event but regained a place for the 2011–12 season after being awarded the Asian nominated place. Aditya won both a bronze and silver medal in singles and team events at the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China.

2011–2012 season: Asian champion

In the 2011–2012 season, as a new player on tour, Mehta would need to win four qualifying matches to reach the main stages of all ranking events. At the second event of the season, the Shanghai Masters, Mehta defeated Stuart Carrington 5–0, Rod Lawler and Jamie Jones both 5–4, before losing to former world number six Ryan Day 2–5. He played in 10 of the 12 Players Tour Championship events this season, with his best result coming in ninth event where he beat two-time World Snooker Championship runner-up Matthew Stevens 4–3 in the last 16, but then lost to Martin Gould 1–4 in the quarter-finals. In April, Mehta won the 2012 Asian Snooker Championship with a 7–5 victory over compatriot Pankaj Advani. 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, as he won the Asian championship he earned a spot on the tour for the following season.

2012–2013 season: First ranking appearance

Mehta started the 2012–13 season at 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 qualifying round. He also lost in the final qualifying round for the Shanghai Masters following a 3–5 defeat to Mark King.

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 6–3 and then came back from 3–5 behind to beat Jimmy White 6–5. In the last qualifying round he defeated Jamie Cope 6–4 to seal his place at the event in Chengdu, China. At the event he defeated Zhu Yinghui in the wildcard round, before winning 6–4 against Stuart Bingham to reach the last 16 where he played world number two Judd Trump. In his first televised match in a ranking tournament Mehta was whitewashed 0–6 by Trump. 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. Mehta did not qualify for another event this season with his year ending in the second round of World Championship qualifying, following a 9–10 loss to Alan McManus. He finished the season ranked world number 73.

After the season ended, Mehta took part in the