Snooker mourns Umu’s passing

THE snooker and billiards fraternity is mourning the loss of one of its greats in Viliame Umu who passed away at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva on Monday.

Viliame was known as Fiji’s ‘Billiards Master’.

Hailing from Tubou, Lakeba, the Lau native marvelled the fans with his distinguished snooker skills.

Arguably what Waisale Serevi was to rugby in Fiji, Umu to some extent was to snooker in the country.

The former Suva City Council employee first took up the cue at a tender age of nine following regular trips to the snooker clubs with his father, Sateki Umu, who was a top snooker player in the 1970s.

Viliame learnt the skills while watching his father playing with his mates at United Club in Suva and decided to try the sport himself in the late 1970s.

In 1983, he competitively started playing the sport and lost in the semi-finals to Lautoka’s Suresh Chauhan during the Fiji Open Snooker Championship which was his first major tournament.

That loss was enough to inspire the young Viliame to progress in the sport. In 1985, he won his first major title which was the Fiji Open Snooker Championship.

In 2003, he represented Fiji at the World Amateur Championship in

China along Ba’s Joe Sue Lum.

He was the first iTaukei to represent Fiji in snooker at the world event. Viliame was regarded as one of the coolest players in the cue sport circles.

He was also a successful coach guiding Kenwyn Lord and Mosese Nawaqakuta to the World Under-20 Championships in New Zealand in 2003.

Lord said Viliame would be sorely missed by his fellow Bilolevu Club members, the snooker and darts fraternity.

“Viliame was a simple man with an extraordinary talent,” Lord said.

“He has a pure and gentle heart who believed in the goodness of mankind.”