Exclusive | 'My father and I are inseparable, but he will never put me on a pedestal': billiards world champion Sourav Kothari

In the second part of an exclusive conversation, Sourav – who recently won the IBSF World Billiards Championship – opens up on his relationship with his father and coach Manoj, a former world champion himself, and how he has changed as a person over the years.

“He wears his/her heart on his/her sleeve.”

This is an idiom that we have all heard or read, being used, countless times for athletes – from different sporting disciplines. But honestly, it’s not very often that one comes across an international level athlete, that too a World Champion, who openly displays his/her emotions. A truly no-holds barred approach to baring one’s heart and soul.

It’s not surprising really that there aren’t too many athletes out there who are willing to do this. After all, truly sharing one’s deepest, mostly well-hidden emotions and feeling makes one vulnerable. Most of us aren’t really comfortable doing that, let alone an athlete who has to compete on the biggest world stages, where the competition is cut-throat to say the least, and where there is no space for vulnerability or weakness.

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