India top Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships with 13 medals; Razmi wins gold

India finished on top of the medal table at the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships, which ended in Ahmedabad on Saturday, October 10, 2026. The host nation won 13 medals, three gold, five silver and five bronze, at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex. Aditya Mehta won men's snooker by beating fellow Indian Dhvaj Haria 3-0 in the final, Anupama Ramachandran won women's English billiards, and Rayaan Razmi, picked as one of the younger members of the squad, won men's English billiards by beating team-mate Siddharth Sailesh Parikh in another all-Indian final.

Cue sports rarely get the attention that cricket, badminton or athletics do in India. A home championship that ends with India top of the table gives the sport a rare stretch of public attention, and it puts a few names in front of young players who may never have thought of a cue as a route into competitive sport.

For readers looking at sport as a pathway, the most useful detail is the mix of the squad. Before the event, India's men's team was described as a blend of experienced players such as Siddharth Parikh, Laxman Rawat and Sundeep Gulati, and younger players including Rayaan Razmi and Paras Gupta. Both of those younger players reached a final. Razmi turned his into gold, beating one of the senior players he was grouped with, while Gupta took silver in heyball, a Chinese-origin variant of pool that is new to many Indian fans.

The women's results were also strong. Two Indian women met in the English billiards final, and Keerthana Pandian reached the women's snooker final. Ishika Shah and Shruthi Lakshminarayanan added bronze medals. For a sport often seen as male-dominated in Indian clubs, that spread of medals matters for girls considering it.

Holding the event at home also had a practical effect. Indian players did not need to fund long trips abroad to face Commonwealth opposition, and the federation could field a larger squad of 18 players. Cost of travel is one of the main barriers for young players in smaller sports, so home events are a real opportunity for them to gain international experience.

Short-term: The results give Indian cue sports players ranking credit and visibility, and they confirm India's position as a leading Commonwealth nation in billiards and snooker.

Long-term: A successful home event in the federation's centenary year may help the case for more international cue sports tournaments in India, which would give young players more chances to compete at that level without travelling.

Who is affected: Indian cue sports players and coaches, clubs and academies that train young players, and the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India.

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