IBSF/WBA WORLD OPEN BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP
8th-18th November 2000 - North Ormesby Institute, Middlesbrough
The Players
Australia Matthew Bolton Robby Foldvari *Austria Clemens Kunkel Michael KreuzigerFranz MészárosEngland Paul Bennett * David Causier * Roxton Chapman * Michael Donnelly Lee Lagan John Hartley Darren Kell Tony Mackinder Peter Gilchrist * Mike Russell * Ernest Shorney Chris Shutt * Ian Williamson * Robin WilsonIndia Pankaj Advani Devendra Joshi * Manoj Kothari * Alok Kumar * Vishal Madan Nalin Patel * Geet Sethi * Ashok Shandilya * Dhruv SitwalaMalaysia Loon Hong MohMalta Paul Mifsud Francis Mintoff Northern Ireland John Dinsmore Robert LoughranPakistan Mohammed YonusRepublic of Ireland Richard Brennan John Hughes Victor O'Gorman Tim MurphySingapore Lau Weng Yew Alan Paun Teik ChongSri Lanka Khombala Sirisoma Jailabdeen WahidThailand Praprut Chaithanasakun* Udon Khaimuk* Denotes professional
In a rare demonstration of unity and co-operation, the WPBSA (represented by the WBA) and IBSF joined forces to promote the only World Billiards Championship to be held in the year 2000. This was packaged as a continuation of the IBSF "Open" Championship, which still uses the 1927 “World Amateur Billiards Championship” trophy to present to it´s winner. The tournament was staged at the North Ormesby Institute Club in Middlesbrough, who had agreed to be hosts at short notice after the original venue in Thailand was withdrawn. Four tables were erected in the Club's upstairs function room, two being the "super-tight" Riley's tables which were introduced to the Professional circuit last year, one from a local table-fitter set up to the old B&SCC templates, and one from the bar downstairs which had no known pedigree.
A total of £20,000 in prize money was made available from the funds of the WBA, while the IBSF made a more modest contribution of £5,000 which went towards the administration of the event. The most controversial feature was the change in format to multiple games of 50-up although the presence of top professional players was also an objection raised by those looking to preserve Amateur traditions. These objections, either singly or combined, resulted in a total absence of New Zealand representatives and also the best players from Northern Ireland. Although the host Nation would normally co-ordinate the Championship, the EABA refused to have anything to do with it and only one player, Ernest Shorney, was officially nominated through EASB (the IBSF affiliated body for England). However, as the event was staged in Teesside, a hot-bed of English billiards, the organisers were able to draft in some very useful local players to help swell the numbers. Even so, only half of the eight groups could field a full compliment of six players, the remainder having just five contestants.
Of the 44 competitors, a total of 15 places were reserved for professional players, although some of these were actually entered directly by their National Associations. Almost all of this latter category came from India, with the Australian Association additionally nominating World No.6, Robby Foldvari, who won a qualifying competition for the right to accompany their Champion, Matthew Bolton. This compares to 48 entries for the IBSF Championship last year in Ireland, where only one player was a registered professional.
The initial stages were best of seven games with each of the eight groups providing two qualifiers for the knock-out stages. Players finishing equal on matches won, were separated by the aggregate of games won, minus games lost.
Mike Russell was untroubled by his opposition in Group A, dropping only one game in his five matches. Amongst the generally “unknown” players in this group was Michael Donnelly, who at 14 years was the youngest competitor. He made a creditable showing to finish 4th, but it was the 44 year-old Malaysian, Moh Loon Hong, who made sure that he qualified in second place by defeating Donnelly 4-2 in his penultimate match. Moh Loon Hong is regarded as the best billiard player in Malaysia having won Gold Medals in the SEA Games in 1991 and 1995.
| GROUP A | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Mike Russell* | England | 5 | 5 | 19 |
| 2 | Moh Loon Hong | Malaysia | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Vishal Madan | India | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Michael Donnelly | England | 5 | 2 | -1 |
| 5 | Clemens Kunkel | Austria | 5 | 1 | -16 |
| 6 | Mohammed Yonus | Pakistan | 5 | 0 | -15 |
| GROUP B | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Geet Sethi* | India | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | Ian Williamson* | England | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | Matthew Bolton | Australia | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Tim Murphy | Rep of Ireland | 4 | 1 | -9 |
| 5 | John Dinsmore | N-Ireland | 4 | 0 | -1 |
| GROUP C | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Peter Gilchrist* | England | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | K.H. Sirisoma | Sri Lanka | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | Darren Kell | England | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Victor O'Gorman | Rep of Ireland | 4 | 1 | -5 |
| 5 | Ernest Shorney | England | 4 | 0 | -12 |
| GROUP D | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Devendra Joshi* | India | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 2 | Chris Shutt* | England | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | Lau Weng Yew | Singapore | 4 | 2 | -2 |
| 4 | Richard Brennan | Rep of Ireland | 4 | 1 | -5 |
| 5 | Tony Mackinder | England | 4 | 1 | -5 |
The two seeded professionals, Geet Sethi and Ian Williamson progressed from Group B, although against the Australian Champion, Matthew Bolton, they were both run to a close finish, needing to take the deciding game in each case.
Peter Gilchrist was hardly challenged as he headed Group C, each of his four games finishing with a 4-1 win. With an eye on the high break prize of £250, he had been working on a technique to finish a break of 49 with a 10 shot. This involved nursing the balls into the jaws of a pocket where he would conclude by potting the red at pace and with a huge amount of top spin. This would make the cue ball recoil, then spin back towards the pocket, potting the opponent's ball and following through. In his match against Darren Kell, he came within a fraction of making this position, but losing it on the last stroke, had to settle for a six-shot and a 55 break.
Sri Lankan Champion, Khombala Sirisoma, had a more difficult passage. His 4-2 win over Darren Kell deciding which of them accompanied Gilchrist into the draw for the last 16. Devendra Joshi, despite a loss to Tony Mackinder in his last match, finished on top of Group D and looked by far the most accomplished player at the 50-up game. Chris Shutt was made to struggle all the way to qualify in second place. Needing to win his last match, he was taken to the deciding game by Dick Brennan.
| GROUP E | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Ashok Shandilya* | India | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 2 | David Causier* | England | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Alan Paun Teik Chong | Singapore | 4 | 2 | -3 |
| 4 | Pankaj Advani | India | 4 | 1 | -3 |
| 5 | Michael Kreuziger | Austria | 4 | 0 | -16 |
| GROUP F | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Alok Kumar* | India | 5 | 5 | 16 |
| 2 | Paul Bennett* | England | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | Robby Foldvari* | Australia | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| 4 | Manoj Kothari* | India | 5 | 1 | -6 |
| 5 | Robin Wilson | England | 5 | 1 | -10 |
| 6 | Robert Loughran | N-Ireland | 5 | 1 | -13 |
| GROUP G | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Nalin Patel* | India | 5 | 5 | 16 |
| 2 | Paul Mifsud | Malta | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 3 | Paraprut Chaithanasakun* | Thailand | 5 | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | John Hartley | England | 5 | 2 | -4 |
| 5 | John Hughes | Rep of Ireland | 5 | 1 | -11 |
| 6 | Franz Meszaros | Austria | 5 | 0 | -19 |
| GROUP H | Matches | Game Difference | |||
| Played | Won | ||||
| 1 | Lee Lagan | England | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 | Roxton Chapman* | England | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 3 | Udon Khaimuk | Thailand | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | Dhruv Sitwala | India | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Francis Mintoff | Malta | 5 | 1 | -10 |
| 6 | Jailabdeen Wahid | Sri Lanka | 5 | 0 | -11 |
Ashok Shandilya and David Causier were a class above the other members of Group E and were only separated at the top of the group by Shandilya's narrow 4-3 win over Causier in the first match. With four professionals amongst the six players in Group F, this was quickly dubbed by the competitors "the Group of Death". Not that it seemed to bother Alok Kumar, who, apart from a narrow 4-3 win against Bennett, dropped just one further game in winning all his matches. When Paul Bennett had a 4-2 win over Robby Foldvari, he became favourite to take the second qualifying place, but was made to struggle all the way by 16 year-old Robin Wilson, eventually scraping home 4-3.
The 'shock' of Group G was the elimination of current IBSF Champion, Praprut. With Nalin Patel sweeping all before him, the second qualifying place was decided on the final night in the match between Praprut and Paul Mifsud. Although Praprut took the first game easily enough, the Maltese ex-champion then produced a blistering spell to take the next four in a row, completing the task with two fifty breaks in the last two games. This match could have been a real classic under the time-limit format. Group H was the most closely contested of the Championship, where three players finished with four wins apiece and they could only be separated on game difference. Against all the odds, the winner turned out to be Lee Lagan who pushed World No.7 Roxton Chapman into second place. This was largely due to a magnificent performance by Lagan in his match against Chapman, when, after trailing 1-3, he came back to take the last three games (including two 50 breaks) for a remarkable victory. Udon Khaimuk was the unlucky player to lose out in this three-way tie. Having defeated Lagan 4-2 in their group match he was relegated to third place on count-back of games.
The first round of the knock-out stages saw a major upset when Paul Bennett defeated the World Champion Mike Russell by eight games to six. With the match poised at six games apiece it was Bennett who found the openings and held his nerve to take the two games he needed for victory. Russell returned to his Peterborough home expressing a strong dislike for the 50-up format. "If they play that [in the World Professional Championship] in Madras, then I won't be going" he said emphatically.
Lee Lagan was the only amateur player to progress to the quarter-finals with an impressive victory over Ian Williamson, currently ranked No.15 in the World. Despite losing the first game he dominated the match, making a couple of fifty breaks in his 8-2 win.
Ashok Shandilya had looked to be in great form during his group qualifiers, but was less convincing against the World No.5 Chris Shutt. A spell of four games in a row by Shutt took him to within one game of victory at 7-2. A belated rally by Shandilya was insufficient to prevent an 8-4 win by the Englishman.
Geet Sethi looked impressive as he gave few scoring opportunities to the Sri Lankan Champion, K. H. Sirisoma. At the end of the first three games, Sirisoma had still to score a single point, which made his fourth game break of 51 all the more impressive. However, this was to be his last success as Sethi closed the match 8-1.
Roxton Chapman had a similar one-sided encounter with Devendra Joshi to take the match 8-2, and David Causier, after a slow start, overwhelmed Alok Kumar 8-1. In the fourth game of this match, play was held up for 10 minutes while the IBSF Senior Referee, Bill Telford was summoned to resolve a refereeing controversy. David Causier claimed a foul after the referee mistakenly placed the red for Joshi to make three consecutive pots from the spot. The Senior Referee eventually ruled that it was not a foul, the red was placed on the centre spot and Joshi continued the game. However, possibly due to the break in his concentration, he could make little more from the opening and Causier eventually took this game as well.
Nalin Patel struggled late into the night to defeat Moh Loon Hong 8-4. With all the other matches completed, and neither player producing particularly attractive billiards, the audience gradually drifted away until at 9.30pm there where just a few fellow competitors watching the match, which eventually concluded over an hour later.
Chris Shutt stormed into an impressive early lead against Peter Gilchrist, taking the first four games with breaks of 49, 53 and 51, before Gilchrist managed to get onto the scoreboard. The contest was more even after this, with some fine play from both players, but Shutt managed to hold his advantage to the end, winning 9-6.
Lee Lagan was the last surviving representative of the Amateur ranks in the competition and continued to give a good account of himself as he held Paul Bennett to four games each at the interval. This trend continued until the score reached 6-6 at which point Bennett, as he had against Mike Russell, took the initiative and won the next three games to clinch the match. Lagan's consolation was a cheque for £1,000 which easily exceeded the total prize money he received from his endeavours on the Amateur circuit last season. On paper, the match between David Causier and Geet Sethi looked as though it might be a close contest, but on the night Causier proved to be totally dominant as Sethi struggled to convert the few openings he was given. Sethi's problems started with his very first stroke. The initial break-off left a red over the centre pocket and Causier needed no further invitation to finish the game with a break of 52. He then proceeded to take the next six games, usually requiring just a single scoring visit, to lead 7-0 at the interval. When Causier additionally secured the first game of the second session there seemed no way back for Sethi, and although he managed to win the next two games, Causier then applied the closure, securing an impressive 9-2 victory.
Roxton Chapman despatched the last surviving member of the Indian team with a comprehensive victory over Nalin Patel who continued to play well below his normal standard.
Chris Shutt's much publicised dislike of the 50-up format was not apparent in his match against his regular practice partner, Paul Bennett, as he swept into a 7-2 lead at the end of the first session of their semi- final encounter. On the resumption, he required just 15 minutes to take the remaining three games he required for the match.
David Causier set the early pace by taking the first three games against Roxton Chapman, but in a tactical first session the Peterborough professional redressed the balance to go into the interval with a 5-4 lead. With both players looking evenly matched, Causier brought the scores level at 6-6, at which point the spectators were treated to some billiards of the highest class. The next four games were taken at a single scoring visit, and with three of them going to Chapman he was now within one game of the match. With the spectators enthralled by the contest, Causier froze out Chapman to bring the scores level again with everything now depending on the last game. The first opportunity fell to Causier, but when he failed at a forcing cannon and left Chapman an opening, he returned to his seat with an air of resignation. In complete silence and under huge pressure, Chapman never looked to be entirely in control of the situation as he slowly built up the break. He was not helped by a sudden burst of exploding fireworks outside the building which shattered the silence and caused him the stand up on his shot at one point in the break. That difficulty overcome, and with tension mounting, he was again interrupted by a mobile telephone in the audience! But with everything seeming to conspire against him he kept his concentration to complete the 50 points he required for the game and match. A great advert for billiards and much appreciated by the knowledgeable Teesside audience, even though "their man" had lost.
Two great professional players gave a crowd of 50 Middlesbrough billiards enthusiasts a fine exhibition of the new 50-up game which included almost every shot in the book. Once the initial sparring gave an opening to either player there was a general expectation that he would finish the game at a single visit, which more often than not, was exactly what happened. Chris Shutt opened confidently with a perfect 50 break in the very first game without ever looking as though he would lose position at the top of the table, but after that he played less confidently as Chapman struck back with an unfinished run of 46 to take the next. Play continued in this fashion throughout the first session which ended at five games apiece.