Name	Date of Birth	Country
Arantxa Sanchis	27-04-1990	India

Name                                    :                               Arantxa Sanchis

 

Arantxa Sanchis is a female Professional Billiards and Snooker player from India. She won the Gold medal in the Women's Team event at the inaugural IBSF World 6-Red Snooker and Team Snooker Championship in Carlow, Ireland on 6 Oct, 2013. It was a historic first Gold Medal for Indian Women's Snooker at a World Championship. On 27 Sep 2015, she won the inaugural IBSF World Billiards Championship in Adelaide, Australia. This feat made her the only woman in the world to hold IBSF World titles in both Billiards and Snooker.

Prior to this she has won ten National and two Maharashtra State Championships. She created history and a record by winning four titles at a single Nationals (Indore 2008). No Indian male or female cueist had accomplished this feat. She won the National Senior Women's Billiards Championship in 2012 and in 2015 and the National Six Red Snooker Championship in the year 2012. At 17 years of age she represented India at the IBSF World Under 21 Snooker Championship, 2007 held at Goa and was a Semi-Finalist. She was a quarter-finalist at the IBSF World 6 Red Snooker Championship, 2014 held at Egypt.

On 3 Dec 2015, Arantxa was conferred with the Shiv Chhatrapati Award - Maharashtra’s highest sporting honor for her achievements in the sport of Billiards & Snooker.

 

The Beginning

Diminutive Arantxa started playing Snooker in 2005 at the age of 15. It was at the Officer's Mess at the prestigious College of Military Engineering in Pune, where her father was serving in the Indian Army, that she picked up the cue. She potted the first ball she aimed at. She was then studying in the X Std at the Army Public School, Pune. She would look for every opportunity and coaxed her father to take her to play. She picked up the game quickly and started participating in the Annual tournament in Billiards and Snooker for the officers at CME and won both the Billiards and Snooker Championships in the year 2006. She then took part in a Pune Open Snooker tournament at PYC Hindu Gymkhana in which she won the opening frame of her very first competitive match by displaying tremendous grit in potting the last black against her older and more experienced male player. Arantxa is equally good at both snooker and billiards at the International level. She has had to juggle between sports and academic ever since and now juggles between work and play.

 

 

Coaching

She had her basic coaching under late Shri Satish Amarnath; renowned National and International Billiards and Snooker player. Her compact stance, smooth cue delivery and sharp potting skills were developed under him. Recently, she had a short stint with Thai Snooker player Phisit Chandsiri, a 3-time winner and reigning IBSF World Masters Champion. He improved her break building ability and game strategy. At present, she is coached and mentored by her father.

Family

Arantxa is the daughter of Retired Indian Army Officer, Colonel EJ Sanchis, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla who trained at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun and served for around three decades in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. He was the Commander in-charge of the Rescue Operation of the Orissa flood in the year 1999. He has represented NDA and Marathwada University in Cricket and Hockey. He has given her tremendous support in her sporting career and is currently her Coach, Manager and Mentor for the game. Her mother is Carolina Sanchis, who is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College Mumbai. She has an elder sister Amanda Sanchis, who is currently working with the Media.

Education

Arantxa has done her schooling from Army Public School, Pune. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in IT from St. Francis Institute of Technology, University of Mumbai. She then went on to become an MBA in Finance and International Business from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies under Symbiosis International University, Pune.

Sporting Achievements

Arantxa is the current World and National Champion in Billiards. Her complete list of achievements in Billiards and Snooker can be seen in the box.

She has represented India at multiple world championships:.

WPBSA Professional World Billiards Championship:

•             Leeds, UK (Oct 2012)

IBSF World Billiards Championship:

•             Adelaide, Australia (Sep 2015)

IBSF World Snooker Championship:

•             Sofia, Bulgaria (Nov 2012)

•             Daugavpils, Latvia (Nov 2013)

•             Bangalore, India (Dec 2014)

•             Hurghada, Egypt (Nov 2015)

IBSF World Six Red Snooker & Team Championship:

•             Carlow, Ireland (Oct 2013)

•             Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt (Jun 2014)

•             Karachi, Pakistan (Aug 2015)

She represents New Poona Club and Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) for various tournaments in Pune. She has also represented MCF Club and Catholic Gymkhana at the Mumbai Billiards & Snooker Leagues.

Academic achievements

Arantxa has always been a bright student. She has been balancing her Academics and Sport admirably well. She achieved a Distinction during her Engineering from St. Francis Institute of Technology, Mumbai. She was declared the Best Student of the Institute.

She also topped her MBA in Finance from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. Here too, she was declared the Best Student of the Institute.

In the year 2013, she won the Chancellor's Gold Medal of Symbiosis International University for all-round excellence in MBA among 5000 students across 10 Institutes in India. She won as many as 10 awards during her two years of the MBA Course. She was awarded the Sports scholarship for two years in a row by the University.