WORLD PROFESSIONAL BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

Taj Residency, Chennai, India (3rd-8th August 1999)

The Players and Seedings

Australia
Robby Foldvari (4)
England
David Causier (3)
Roxton Chapman (8)
Peter Gilchrist (5)
Mike Russell (2)
Chris Shutt (6)
Peter Sheehan (11)
Ian Williamson (12)
India
Arun Agrawal (15)
Subhash Agrawal (13)
Satish Amarnath
Balachandra Bhaskar
Michael Ferreira (16)
Harish Gandhi
Aditya Goenka
Manoj Kothari (14)
Devendra Joshi (10)
Alok Kumar
Ishmit Malik
Nalin Patel (7)
Mukesh Rehani
Geet Sethi (1)
Rupesh Shah
Ashok Shandilya (9)
Dhruv Sitwala

The 1999 World Professional Championship was held in the luxurious surrounding of the Taj Residency Hotel in Chennai, previously known as “Madras” before it became part of the current Indian fashion for renaming their cities. Playing for a total prize money of £45,000 the 25 entries were slightly down on year´s 31, mainly due to a reduction in the Indian contingent. Of the top 16 ranked players, only Bob Close (15) was absent.

Using the new format of fixed points matches, the early rounds were 1000 up, played as a single session. The semi-finals were 1500 up with an interval scheduled when one player reached 1000 points or the aggregate score reached 1500, and the final was 2000 up, the interval criteria also being extended by 500 points.

Most of the interest in a rather pedestrian opening match between Mukesh Rehani and Ashok Sitwala focused on an interruption of almost half an hour to adjust the lighting, which had been raised to accommodate the overhead zoom of the television cameras. As the match resumed, neither player showed particularly good control, but Rehani was the steadier of the two and won by 328 points in 3½ hours. “It could have been brighter” said Rehani, referring to the lighting, “but after a while we got used to it”.

The first surprise of the tournament came with the defeat of Michael Ferreira. He was suffering the effects of a slipped disc and was obviously still in some pain as he entered his match with Alok Kumar. “I got over-enthusiastic” said Ferreira “One day recently I practised for seven and a half hours and something went in my back”. Obviously in some pain, he was unable to put up any opposition to Kumar who did not have to produce anything special to record a 428 point victory. Ferreira is now over 60 years old, but despite this setback, and the general problems of advancing age, seems as keen as ever to continue playing. Asian games gold medal winner, Ashok Shandilya managed two centuries in his 446 point victory over fellow-countryman Mukesh Rehani. The winning margin could have been much greater, but he regularly failed on easy chances when looking good enough to put together some sizeable contributions.

Peter Sheehan produced the best result of his career to defeat Robby Foldvari.

Peter Sheehan made the first double-century of the competition with a break of 240 which helped him to overcome the challenge of Aditya Goenka. With a style and speed which is second to none in the professional game, Sheehan made significant progress up the rankings last year, and looks determined to make further gains this season. Manoj Kothari made hard work of defeating Harish Gandhi in a match which saw many blank and single figure visits. A top break of 77 by Kothari did not bode well for his chances in the next round.

Tournament director Alan Chamberlain announced before the event that referees had been instructed to “get tough with players slowing down the game”. This didn´t seem to work out too well for the encounter between Ian Williamson and Balachandra Bhaskar. After 3½ hours the score had only reached 609-593 in favour of Bhaskar when Alan Chamberlain was obliged to step in and suspend play, allowing the table to be prepared for the following match. The pair returned for a late-night sitting where Williamson had the agony of missing a regulation pot red when 4 points from game. He then had to watch as Bhaskar put together an unfinished break of 54 to snatch victory in a total match time of six hours.

Another giant of Indian billiards, Subhash Agrawal, was forced to bow to the power of youth, as Rupesh Shah´s fluent break-building and effective safety play left Agrawal trailing in his wake. It was only towards the end, with the winning post in sight, that Shah´s concentration wavered, allowing Agrawal to make the score a little more respectable— his last three visits producing 78, 62 and 127.

Thursday´s play saw Mike Russell take centre stage and produce a performance which must have dismayed his challengers. At his eleventh visit with the score 418-221 in favour of the Peterborough professional, he ran up a sparkling unfinished break of 582 in just 39 minutes. Russell described it as technically one of the best breaks he has ever made, and felt that if the format had allowed it, he could have gone on the register the first 1,000 break under modern rules. Earlier in the game he had produced a break of 216 which ended at a missed pot red. The match took just 1 hour 50 minutes, the fastest of the championship so far, and gave Russell an average of exactly 100.

Sethi had expressed the opinion that he was very happy with his game prior to his match with Alok Kumar. However, he did not display anything like the form of which he is capable. He started well enough, breaks of 62, 77 and 76 establishing an early lead of 300-27, and he threatened to inflict a runaway victory. Then came a slump with a long spell of low scoring which allowed Kumar back into the game. This spell was ended with a break of 102 and shortly afterwards another of 126 set him on the road to victory by 559 points. Despite the winning margin, and a respectable match average of 31.4, Sethi was not happy with the way he played, admitting that he would have to raise his game if he was to retain his title.

Roxton Chapman´s miserable run of form continued unabated as he went out to Arun Agrawal in a late-night encounter. Ashok Shandilya´s fourth meeting with Peter Gilchrist resulted in his fourth defeat. Gilchrist looked well set to complete a comfortable victory as he raced into a lead of 858-298. Then a break of 193 by Shandilya demonstrated the Indian´s class, but was insufficient to overcome such a massive deficit. Gilchrist remained unruffled and did no more than was required to win, closing the match with an unfinished 85.

Peter Sheehan turned in a magnificent performance to overcome No.4 seed Robby Foldvari and record the best result of his professional career. A break of 150 nosed him ahead on his sixth visit, before another of 219 saw him pull away. However, the tough Australian fought back to within 40 points before Sheehan ran in a superb 196, and followed this with breaks of 95 and 71 to complete a 318 point victory, his last five visits producing 389 points.

It took David Causier 180 minutes to demolish Manoj Kothari by 559 points. Although he made just one century break, he was consistent enough to record an average of 24.4 and cruise through to the quarter-finals.

The residents of Chennai take relief from the heat by beginning their activities early in the morning, and Chris Shutt also decided to get into this habit, rising at 4.00am for his practise sessions. This idea seemed to work well enough, as he took even less time than Causier to dispose of Devendra Joshi, five century breaks helping him to complete the task in exactly two hours. Joshi was never in contention as Shutt, starting with a break of 127, and ending with consecutive runs of 109, 93, 149 and 39 unfinished averaged 37.0 for his 1,000 points.

Bhaskar´s draining match against Williamson didn´t prevent him from putting up a gallant fight against Nalin Patel. The turning point was a break of 241 by Patel who also ran in three other centuries. Some self- imposed pressure at the end saw him miss some easy shots, but his earlier work was enough to see him through to meet Russell in the quarter-finals.

Arun Agrawal punched the air with delight as he scored the final points which eliminated the World Champion.

Fourteen years ago Arun Agrawal was a spectator at the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi as Geet Sethi won his first World Amateur Championship. This inspired him to take up the game seriously, and on Friday 6th August his efforts culminated in a magnificent victory over his hero. Agrawal who has only been in the professional ranks for three years raised his game to stay in close contention throughout the match. Trailing 826-943 he then ran up a timely 110 break to pressurise the Champion. Even so, Sethi seemed to have the measure of the match, when, needing only 23 to win, he put together 22 before missing a straightforward in-off red. Agrawal, who must have been preparing to concede defeat, then had to summon all his reserves to play out an unfinished break of 53 in a nerve tingling climax. As the winning shot was made, Agrawal released the pent-up tension by punching the air with delight.

On his performances in the previous rounds, Peter Sheehan looked to stand a realistic chance of progressing to the semi-finals. Perhaps it was in Sheehan´s mind that Gilchrist had defeated him twice last season, one of those in the World Championships. Whatever the reason, he failed to reproduce his earlier form and Gilchrist, assisted by a break of 210, sailed through to the semi-finals.

Russell, who was known to be unhappy with his cueing, was also below the form he displayed in the previous round, but to his credit was able to raise his game when most needed. When Patel put together a break of 246 to establish a lead of 58 points, Russell responded with a break of 155, following this with runs of 150 and 158. Later, when Patel threatened to pull level, Russell closed out the match with a 69 and 143 unfinished.

It would have taken a brave person to bet on the result of the match between Teesside rivals, Chris Shutt and David Causier. These rapidly improving players seem destined to break up the long held cartel of Sethi and Russell and little separates them in terms of ability at the moment. In just over an hour, Shutt had established a lead of 520-168 before Causier struck back with a break of 134 and then raced past his opponent with a superb 167 to open up a lead of 702-692. But he failed to keep up the momentum, and Shutt responded in the manner of a champion to complete a 171 point victory.

In a slightly nervous opening, Chris Shutt must have regretted squandering several chances early in his semi-final match against Mike Russell. Although at one stage he held a 133-109 advantage, this was cancelled by the first significant break from Russell, 96, at his ninth visit, and was immediately followed by a run of 247. To his credit, Shutt responded with 183, but thereafter it was all Russell, as the World No.1 started to flow, adding runs of 352, 283 and 291 in his next five visits. Russell completed his victory in a little under two hours with an average of 93.8

Still little more than a “rookie” professional, Arun Agrawal seemed a little overawed by reaching his first semi-final and could not reproduce the fighting billiards he had displayed against Sethi. Gilchrist made his first century (119) at his third visit and thereafter drew steadily away with three more centuries in his next 14 visits. After the interval, Agrawal faded away completely, adding only 86 points to his score as Gilchrist romped through the 500 he needed, ending the one-sided contest with an unfinished 145.

An all-night party by some of his fellow competitors in an adjoining room, ensured that Mike Russell only had three hours sleep on the eve of his final with Peter Gilchrist. Starting his match at 10.00am Russell admitted he was “shattered by lack of sleep” and both players opened the game by missing good chances. It took a break of 99 by Gilchrist to stir Russell into action. This brought a response of 74 which was his way of warming up for a break of 294 which followed almost immediately. Drawing deeply from his reserves of concentration, Russell added runs of 192, 195 and 124 to set himself firmly on the path to victory. Gilchrist kept in touch with breaks of 115, 88, 72 and 124 keeping the deficit down to 1,065-651. Then Russell went away again, an unfinished run of 285 taking him into the interval leading 1350- 651. “I was glad of the interval. I could go to sleep for a while” said Russell. “My knees were giving way and my eyelids were getting heavier by the minute”.

Returning slightly refreshed, Russell took his break to 332 before electing to play for safety after losing position. Shortly afterwards Gilchrist was given an excellent chance of posting a substantial response, but this ended disappointingly after just a few shots with a missed in- off red. Russell´s punishing reply was a break of 341 which saw him widen his lead to 1750-670.

Perhaps stung by the failure at his previous visit, Gilchrist at last seemed to be getting things right, but sensationally forgot about crossing the baulk-line as he approached the century and had to settle for a break of 98. He had just one more chance, adding another 60 to his score, before Russell wrapped things up with a run of 245 unfinished.

Russell´s winning cheque for £12,500 was supplemented by another for £1,000 in recognition of the highest break, 582 unfinished, which he made in his opening match. “I like playing in Madras” said Russell, who has now won five of the six tournaments to be held in the city. Peter Gilchrist, unhappy that he had not been able to make more of his chances in the final, still made a very respectable match average of 31.0, and was at least partially consoled with the runner-up´s prize of £7,500.