IBSF WORLD OPEN BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mt Pritchard & District Community Club, Sydney, Australia

18th November - 1st December 2002

The Players

Australia
George Chammas
David Collins
Vic Cravino
Ian Gilbee
Mark Hammer
Adrian Hinks
Frank Humphreys
Danik Lucas
Darren Martin
Bill Mifsud
James Mifsud
Steve Mifsud
Joe Millen
Joe Minici
Brian Moulday
Vic Sacco
Phil Tarrant
Keith Taylor
Tim Walters
India
Devendra Joshi*
Alok Kumar*
Vishal Madan
Aditya Mehta
Siddharth Parikh
Vaibhav Punwatkar
Geet Sethi*
Ashok Shandilya*
Dhruv Sitwala*
Rishabh Thakkar
New Zealand
Wayne Carey
Malcolm Cooke
Derek Gibb
Joe Ifa
WBA
Nalin Patel*
Mike Russell*
Thailand
Praprut C.*
* Denotes professional

Australia was the location for the latest IBSF Billiards Championships, and the event, co-coordinated by the Australian Billiards & Snooker Council, built upon the example of New Zealand the previous year, providing excellent communication and coverage through a specially constructed website on the Internet.

The venue was the impressive Mount Prichard & District Community Club, in Sydney, known locally as the "Mounties" whose eight tables had hosted the Australian National Snooker Championships just prior to the IBSF event. The local Billiards & Snooker Association of New South Wales provided the administration.

The 50-up format, introduced in Middlesbrough for the 2000 event, was abandoned last year when the New Zealand Association insisted on the event reverting to the traditional timed format. Strangely, as if unsure of exactly what they want to do, the IBSF authorised two "World Championships" to be held in Australia with a 50-up event following on from the time-limit contest from 28th November-1st December 2002.

Time-limit Championship Entries from professional players were actively sought to the extent that individual invitations were sent out, but the absence of any significant prize money proved too much of a deterrent for most of the English players. The notable exception to this was Mike Russell, who was known to have been upset that he was not selected as England's representative for the New Zealand event, where John Hartley was the only English player. This year, Russell had laid his plans well, and with an exhibition and coaching tour of New Zealand financing the trip, he timed the return journey to include a stay in Australia for the required period of the Championships.

Russell's entry came as a surprise to many of the competitors who had entered without realising he would be in the field. This must have been a particular blow to the state-sponsored squad from India which included reigning IBSF Champion, Geet Sethi, whose finance by the Government is based to a large extent on the success of the players. As they did in New Zealand, India sent a strong contingent which included most of their top players under the management of Mike Ferreira. One exception to the squad was Nalin Patel, who once more was required to enter himself as a WBA player. This seems to have become a new category of IBSF affiliation to accommodate the entry of professional players not otherwise endorsed by their National Associations. Mike Russell was also entered under this category, while the EASB (England's official IBSF affiliate) did not endorse any players, although an offer was made to John Hartley for an expenses paid trip. He reluctantly declined this tempting invitation in preference to making his debut representing England in their Tri-Nation competition which was taking place at the same time.

The home country seemed to be strongly represented when Robby Foldvari and Matthew Bolton were announced as entries, but both of these players withdrew before the start. Foldvari, who has been concentrating on Pool exhibitions, had not played a game of billiards for the previous two months and also had dental problems which required surgery at hospital with the appointment coinciding with the start of the Championship. Not feeling that he could produce a worthwhile challenge under these circumstances he decided to withdraw "although I love competing and representing Australia" he added. Also withdrawing due to hospital treatment, and in more dramatic circumstances, was Ron Milicich, a young billiards enthusiast from Perth. When his neighbour's house caught fire Ron grabbed a hose and was first into the fray, but as a result he ended up with smoke inhalation which required treatment, and consequently kept him out of the line-up.

Matthew Bolton, whose form seems to have suffered following his shock defeat in the Australian Championship, is now reported to be taking a complete rest from the game and has also stood down from his position on the Board of the B&SA of Western Australia.

Of those who put in an appearance, the bulk of the 36 player field was made up of 19 from the host country and 11 from India. New Zealand sent four players, with Mike Russell and Thailand's Rom Surin (playing under his alternative identity of Praprut Chaithanasakun) making up the compliment.

The entries were divided into six groups with automatic qualification for the top two, who were joined in the knock-out stages by the four best from the remainder. The eight professional players were seeded and distributed as evenly as possible through the groups. Much as expected, they provided the winner in each section.

Danik Lucas gave some cheer for the home supporters when put up a good performance to take the runner-up position behind Mike Russell in Group B, edging out the talented young Indian, Dhruv Sitwala.

Lucas, who did not take part in the 2002 Australian Championship, is credited with a break of 633 in the Queensland state championships last year. In his match against Russell he was certainly not over-awed, making a 292 at his first visit to the table and led the match for most of the first session. Russell however, ultimately proved too strong, going on to win 1297-865. Disposing of his other opponents with less trouble, Russell emerged undefeated in the group, which was depleted by the withdrawal of Adrian Hinks. Having played two of his matches, Hinks returned home to look after his business interests and in accordance with IBSF guidelines all his ties were declared void. Russell's 1868-273 win over Hinks the day before his departure would have been enough to have seeded him at No.1 for the knock-out draw had it been allowed to stand. As it turned out, this made no difference to Russell's progress.

The recently crowned IBSF Snooker Champion, Steve Mifsud, showed that he was also a capable performer at the three-ball game when he defeated the competition's number three seed, Devendra Joshi, 881- 858 in a very close match in Group E. Joshi recovered from this setback to win the group, with Mifsud also going through as one of the best third-placed players. Only a defeat by Alok Kumar prevented Mifsud from heading the group and being seeded for the next stage of the competition.

Without the restrictions of the "Baulk-Line" rule there was a general air of expectation that the event would produce the first competitive thousand break for many years. The chase gave an increased level of interest for the spectators, with the match room filling whenever word spread that someone had reached 500.

Those who attracted this attention during the Group stages were Mike Russell (580), Ashok Shandilya (561), Nalin Patel (518) and Geet Sethi (514), but all were destined to disappoint their audience.

The final day of the Group stages was highlighted by an outstanding 714 break from Devendra Joshi which set the target for the high break prize.

Going to the session interval, the break was at 706 and a spectator wanted to set up his video camera just in case he went on to the thousand mark. Devendra when asked if he would allow it, replied "I don't want the tape for posterity, I want the break."

The first round of the knock-out stages went largely as expected, with one notable exception, as Joe Minici produced a major upset to eliminate Ashok Shandilya. Although it was more a case of Shandilya failing to produce his usual form than exceptional play by Minici. Shandilya was unable to record a single century break in a match where he was always chasing the Australian. Falling behind to an early break of 111, he gradually pulled back the deficit and edged in front for the first time towards the end of the first session, but an immediate response of 190 by Minici, the highest break of the match, took him to the front again and he maintained this position until the end.

Steve Mifsud who had already beaten Devendra Joshi in the Group stages, now found himself drawn against the same opponent in the longer format of four hours. As with their earlier encounter, the match remained close for much of the first session. After this, Joshi built up a commanding lead of nearly four hundred points with a period of consistently high scoring. Mifsud showed his fighting quality by hitting back with two double-century breaks (211 and 217) the latter bringing him to just 31 points behind his opponent. With time running out, the deciding factor was a reply of 82 by Joshi, made under some pressure, and he managed to hold this advantage for a win by 112 points. It was, nevertheless, an impressive performance by the IBSF Snooker Champion who intends to take up an automatic place on the UK Main Tour next season, and has stated his intention to look at the possibility of taking part in any professional billiards tournaments which may be held at the same time.

Mike Russell put up one of the best performances of the round with his 1,960-621 demolition of Joe Millen which included breaks of 336, 312 and 254.

Praprut, who has struggled to make any impression on the professional circuit, revived memories of his performances in the 1999 IBSF Championship, producing a match average of 49.7 while dominating his encounter with six-times Australian Champion, Phil Tarrant.

Geet Sethi also came through against Alok Kumar easily enough in the end, although he left his effort very late. With little to separate the players for most of the match, a surge of scoring in the second session, capped by an unfinished run of 348, saw him win by 683 points. This latter contribution increasing his final match average from the mid-teens to a respectable 35.2.

Mike Russell was at his majestic best in his quarter-final against Tim Walters. He was immediately into his stride, consecutive visits producing runs of 589 and 365 which quickly left Walters on the wrong side of a 998-6 scoreline! A further spell of three visits which added 493, 337 and 353 to Russell's total put the match completely out of sight for the Australian. By the time Russell had added another break of 222 his match average stood at 109.5 and the score 2,629-161 in his favour. To his credit Walters then put together his highest contribution of the match, a fine 195. At this stage, and with the match won, Russell obviously felt he had done enough work for the day, adding just 4 points in his last seven visits which reduced his final match average to a still very impressive 84.9.

Joe Minici improved on his performance in the previous round, but was still totally outclassed by World No.10 Devendra Joshi. Never behind, Joshi consistently scored more heavily than his opponent, every century by Minici being met by a double or triple-century in reply.

With both Nalin Patel and Praprut struggling to find their form, the early part of their quarter-final match had few highlights, Praprut spending this time gradually building a useful lead of about a hundred points. The game came to life with the first century of the match, 151 by Praprut, which was quickly followed by one of 199 by Patel, bringing his deficit down to 69 points. However, he would get no closer, as Praprut maintained his improved showing, adding a top break of 276 to increase his ultimate winning margin to 362 points.

Dhruv Sitwala who lost by the narrowest of margins to Geet Sethi in the 2002 Indian Championship, must have felt that at last he had the measure of his illustrious opponent, as he seemed set for a famous victory in this latest encounter. He dominated the match from the start and completed the first session leading 680-325. Continuing in much the same vein Sitwala built up a commanding lead of over 500 points.

Sethi, who had not managed a century break until this point, then awoke with a run of 111, quickly followed by another of 349 to give himself a chance. Sitwala, with renewed determination, immediately responded with 218, his highest break of the match, but Sethi was not finished and with time running out took the lead for the first time with another triple-century (363). This time, Sitwala was not able to respond, and Sethi held on for the remaining minutes of the match to win by 162 points.

The semi-final between Praprut and Sethi once again saw a mighty effort by the reigning Champion to avoid elimination. After an hour's play, Praprut had carved out a lead of 150 points only to see this position reversed by a break of 310 from Sethi. Sticking to his task, the imperturbable Praprut gradually overhauled Sethi once more, establishing a lead of almost 200 with less than an hour remaining.

Again, the Champion rose to the challenge, and played out the remaining time with a perfectly executed 759 unfinished (53:45 minutes). Several of the audience, gathered in anticipation of seeing the thousand break, felt that Sethi was only beaten by the clock in this objective, remaining in perfect position at the conclusion.

Joshi's performances in previous rounds suggested that amongst all the players in the competition, he was the most likely to pose a threat to Mike Russell. However, he was given little time to settle as the WBA Professional Champion knocked in breaks of 151 and 294 at his second and fourth visits. Following these almost immediately with another of 157, Russell then spent the next hour making the highest break of the competition, with a magnificent 823 (59:59 minutes). When the break was terminated by the miss of a relatively easy losing hazard, there was disappointment that once again the thousand mark had not been passed, but it was sufficient to ensure that Russell progressed safely through to the final as adding 142 at his following visit he led Joshi 1,603-145 with an average of over 200! A now demoralised Joshi continued for a while longer, but when trailing by 1,714 points he offered to concede the match with 31 minutes left to play. This was accepted by Russell who finished with a final match average of 97.6.

The final was extended to six hours player in three sessions. This competition had been by far the longest sustained period of competitive

Mike Russell takes charge of the Arthur Walker Trophy, and semi-finalists Devendra Joshi and Praprut display their prizes.

play that Mike Russell had seen in many years. It is certainly difficult to bring to mind any previous occasion he has been scheduled to play 33 hours in a single event. However, any thoughts that he may begin to tire were quickly dispelled as he replied to an opening effort of 108 by Sethi with runs of 264 and 396 in consecutive visits. Not to be outdone, Sethi, who by now must have been accustomed to recovering from distant positions, produced a series of visits totalling 70, 246, 48 and 396 to trail by just 32 points at 976-944. With the game finely balanced for a while, Russell moved ahead again with a 364 break and then settled the match when he extended his lead to over a thousand with another massive break of 708 (50:02 minutes). When this terminated, there were just 25 minutes remaining and insufficient time for Sethi recover. He did make some inroads to the deficit with a run of 241, but was never in a position to catch Russell who finished a comfortable winner.

Geet Sethi, having received the unfortunate news that his father had been taken ill, left for India immediately after the final, forgoing the chance to compete in the 50-up Championship. Russell was awarded prize money totalling AU$3,200 (£1,128) including AU$200 for his high break of 823 and took possession of a rather battered and distinctly grubby-looking Arthur Walker Trophy. This was possibly the only tarnish on an otherwise polished presentation by the Australian Association, and one of which that can justifiably be proud.

50-up Championship

Despite the AU$100 entry fee for the time-limit event also entitling players to compete in the 50-up Championship, only 22 of the 36 long-format competitors decided to do this. However, the numbers were made up to 32 with additional entries, mainly from Australia.

Mike Russell, who, following the Middlesbrough championship, had vowed never to play 50-up again, decided that he might as well have a try for the AU$2,400 (£847) first prize, but struggled from the outset.

Losing 5-3 to the unknown Indian, Aditya Mehta, he finished in a three-way tie for the Group, progressing only on the basis of having the best aggregate. His reprieve was short-lived, for although he defeated Australian Stuart Lawler in the Last 16, he was comprehensively beaten 9-1 in the next round by Ashok Shandilya.

In fact, Shandilya proved to be the best exponent of this form of billiards, seeing off all opposition, although a determined challenge by Praprut in the final, pushed him all the way to an 11-9 result.

Group positions

Prize Money

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