OVERSEAS NEWS
INDIA
Indian National Billiards Championship
Ashok Shandilya took the Indian Championship for the fifth time in his career, defeating Alok Kumar 1149-899 in the final. This was the 68th staging of the event which was played from 24th January - 1st February 2002.
Geet Sethi had made a return to the Championship after an absence of several years, the competition being hosted by his home Association at the Sports Club in Ahmedabad. However, to the dismay of his army of supporters, Sethi struggled throughout the competition and he was eliminated in the semi-finals by Alok Kumar who, a week earlier, had won the Indian Snooker Championship played at the same venue. A consistent performance by Kumar had helped him to a substantial lead of over 400 at the interval of this match and it proved to be just enough to hold off Sethi who charged back with breaks of 226 and 198. But they were not enough as Kumar held out for a famous 1060-1020 victory.
Sethi had been fortunate to survive his previous match against Dhruv Sitwala, another of India's young prospects. With seconds remaining in this match he was five points behind and needed to pull out an amazing three-cushion cannon, and having just enough time for two further scores, nudged ahead 643- 639 as the buzzer sounded.
Nalin Patel was another player making a return to the Championship, although his absence had not been through choice, as the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India had ruled him ineligible because he held a British when the Indian Federation accepted that Patel qualified for entry due to having been resident in the country for more than three years. This being a stipulation of the International Olympic Committee to which the Indian Federation are affiliated. His return was perhaps not as triumphant as he would have liked as he was defeated in the last 16 by Alok Kumar.
Sixteen year-old Pankaj Advani demonstrated that he was already better than most of the senior players as he emerged from the Group stages where he recorded the highest break of the Championship with 271. Progressing through the knock-out stages, he was another of Kumar’s victims in the quarter-finals, but he would no doubt have been well satisfied with his haul of trophies from the various National events.
The final between Shandilya and Kumar was littered with errors as neither player could find their touch. Over the course of the four hour match they could only manage two centuries between them, 130 by Shandilya, and 106 from Kumar. Shandilya held the advantage throughout, but although Kumar had every chance going into the last 40 minutes, it seemed that the heroics of his semi-final encounter with Sethi had left him drained. Shandilya clinched a 250 point win with a late run of 86.
The play-off's for third and fourth places brought no consolation for Geet Sethi as he was defeated 735-698 by Devendra Joshi. Play-off's for the remaining minor placings brought the following result: 3. Devendra Joshi; 4. Geet Sethi; 5. Dhruv Sitwala; 6. Rafat Habib; 7. Pankaj Advani; 8: Mukesh Rehani
For his efforts, Shandilya won a cash prize of Rs 15,000 (£218), a solid silver Mont Blanc limited edition pen, a 21" colour TV, some formal shirts from Vivaldi Bombay Dyeing and a handsome trophy. Kumar won Rs 7500, a complimentary stay of three nights at the Taj Residency, Ahmedabad and a trophy. The Satish Mohan Memorial Trophy for the highest break went to young Pankaj Advani for his 271. He also took home a cash prize of Rs 2,000.
Last 16
Geet Sethi bt Dharminder Lilly 904-379; Dhruv Sitwala bt M.E. Jokhi 716-262; Alok Kumar bt Nalin Patel 718-502; Pankaj Advani bt Md. Asim 746-488; Ashok Shandilya bt Siddharth Parikh 664-536; Mukesh Rehani bt Rupesh Shah 473-403; Rafat Habib bt Manoj Kothari 548-470; Devendra Joshi bt Shyam Jagtiani 751- 305.
Quarter-finals
Geet Sethi bt Dhruv Sitwala 643-639; Alok Kumar bt Pankaj Advani 887-738; Ashok Shandilya bt Mukesh Rehani 1385- 542; Devendra Joshi bt Rafat Habib 1071-749.
Semi-finals (4 hrs)
Alok Kumar bt Geet Sethi 1060-1020; Ashok Shandilya bt Devendra Joshi 1348-1034.
Final (4 hrs)
Ashok Shandilya bt Alok Kumar 1149-899. Breaks: Shandilya 130, 86, 85, 72; Kumar 106, 76, 64, 61, 60.
Women's National Championship
The Women's Championship ended on 9th January with a victory for Uma Devi. The format had been changed this year from a series of 30 minutes games to 50-up contests. Devi defeated Chitra M. 3-1 in the final round at the Ellisbridge Gymkhana, Ahmedabad. In a play-off for third place Meenal Thakur had a 2-0 win over Sri Devi.
Junior Billiards Championship
Pankaj Advani was in unstoppable form as he retained his Junior Billiards title. He cruised through the knockout stages and was undefeated in the subsequent four player round-robin which took place over 29th-30th January at the Ellisbridge Gymkhana. There had been a total entry of over 50 players for this 26th staging of the Championship and Advani had a busy time, having been involved in the senior and junior competitions at both billiards and snooker. The Junior Snooker, which he also won, had to be held over for a day due to his continued participation in the closing stages of the Senior Billiards Championship.
Final (round robin league)
Pankaj Advani bt. Sourav Kothari 1404-673; Pankaj Advani bt. Rishab Thakkar 1247-656; Pankaj Advani bt. Aditya Shah 1021-694; Rishab Thakkar bt. Aditya Shah 785-484; Rishab Thakkar bt. Sourav Kothari 786-610; Sourav Kothari bt. Aditya Shah 926-656.
Final placings
1. Pankaj Advani, 2. Rishab Thakkar, 3. Sourav Kothari, 4. Aditya Shah.