WBA World Billiards Championship

The Jerma Palace Hotel, Marsascala, Malta. 1st-3rd April, 2003

Mike Russell added to the WPBSA World Billiards Championships he had won in 1989, 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2002 when he saw off all opposition at The Jerma Palace Hotel in Malta to win this title for the sixth time.

After considering several options, it had been decided to allocate the entire WPBSA annual grant of £23,400 as prize money for this, the only event to be held on the professional circuit this season. An offer to stage the event in Malta was gratefully accepted, with First International, a Maltese Computer Company, meeting the costs of the venue, the billiards following on from four days of snooker competition.

A number of conditions applied to the deal meant that the final stages would be restricted to 16 players with four of these being Maltese "wildcards" nominated by the local Association. It was also felt necessary to append the title of "World Championship" to the event, although the selected format of 100-up games hardly supported this status, and the increased importance from a billiards perspective seemed to make little difference as far as attendances were concerned. It was also insufficient to persuade the TV cameras of Eurosport, which were in place to cover the Snooker, to remain for the billiards, even to provide a tape of proceeding which might have been used for future promotions.

Mike Russell and Peter Gilchrist after their final in Malta.

The top eight ranked professionals were seeded through to the final stages and qualifying groups were arranged to take place in England and India for the remainder of the WBA membership. The difficulty of placing Thailand's Rom Surin in these groups was overcome by offering him a "wildcard" entry directly to the last 16. This meant that there would be only three qualifying places and it was decided to allocate two of these to the Indian group and one to the English. This apparent injustice was resolved when Rom Surin failed to take up the offer and his slot was allocated as an additional place to the English qualifiers.

There was at least some welcome news in that No.7 ranked Roxton Chapman, who had missed last season's World Championship after enrolling with the Royal Air Force, made a return for this event.

Steve Mifsud, the Australian-based IBSF snooker champion who had also put up a good showing in the corresponding billiards event, was originally intended to be one of the Maltese wildcards. However, "due to unforeseen circumstances" he had to withdraw and his place was filled by another Maltese nomination, Frans Mintoff.

English Qualifiers

Jesters Snooker Club, Swindon - 5th March 2003

It is said that 'beggars can't be choosers' and this was reflected in the choice of venue for the English qualifying group. Hardly a convenient location for the majority of the English players, it nevertheless provided the necessary facilities for a competition of this status, at a price which was commensurate with the WBA budget. Three days had initially been reserved, but with the prospect of only a single qualifier recovering their travel expenses, it was no doubt met with some relief that the combination of a second qualifying place and some absentees meant that the fixture could be decided in a single day.

Always the two most likely winners, Lee Lagan and Peter Sheehan, were drawn in separate groups and duly won through to book their places for Malta. Lagan certainly had the tougher group with potentially difficult matches against Ian Williamson and Paul Bennett. In the event, he dropped only one game to defeat both opponents in convincing fashion. Robin Wilson, who was making his professional debut, was also in the same group, but was eliminated by Bennett in the first round. Sheehan was also suitably impressive, producing a 4-1 scoreline in both of his matches against Brian Dix and Clive Everton.

Results

Indian Qualifiers

The Elphinstone Cricket Club, Mumbai - 10th March 2003

There was a very disappointing turn-out from the Indian players, with just five deciding to enter. Ashok Shandilya and Devendra Joshi won through to the final stages, although the latter had a hard fight to overcome Dhruv Sitwala, with their match going to the deciding game.

Results

Competition Proper

The main tournament took place between 1st-3rd April, at The Jerma Palace Hotel in Marsascala. The opening groups stages were played on a round-robin format, each match being the best of 7 games of 100-up, with two baulk-line crossings (between 40-49 and 80-89) in any one break.

The first major upset came on the opening day, when Lee Lagan defeated Geet Sethi 4-1. Sethi, like Mike Russell, has not been too impressive over short games in previous outings and was caught out on this occasion by the qualifier from England. The result ensured that Lagan progressed from Group A at the expense of the four-times winner of this championship. Mike Russell, despite his distaste for the short format was in imperious form, going through all his group matches without losing a single game.

The Maltese wildcard, Paul Mifsud, was the other surprise package, defeating Peter Gilchrist and Robby Foldvari on his way to topping Group D. A 4-1 victory for Gilchrist over Foldvari meant that the Australian made an unexpectedly early exit from the competition.

Another seeded player to miss out was Roxton Chapman, whose defeats by both David Causier and Devendra Joshi meant that he would make no further progress from Group C.

Chris Shutt shrugged off the handicap of a wrist in plaster to head Group B and was joined in the knock-out stages by Nalin Patel, the results going largely to expectations. The match between these two was finely balanced throughout. Standing at three games all, Patel took command with a break of 83, but could only watch as Chris Shutt clinched the match with an unfinished 95.

The quarter and semi-final matches were increased to the best of 9 games, Russell again coming through both rounds with ease. He despatched Nalin Patel 5-0 then Chris Shutt 5-1, although Shutt had some consolation in being the first person to win a game against him.

Peter Gilchrist joined Russell in the final with a good 5-1 win over David Causier followed by a convincing win over Devendra Joshi, who is particularly skilled in these short-format games. The hopes of the host nation had been dashed when Joshi had defeated local hero Paul Mifsud in the quarter-finals. A match which produced a desperately tight 5-4 finish.

The final was played over the best of eleven games and Gilchrist at least put up some opposition for Russell, winning four games before the Champion secured the tenth to win 6-4. Gilchrist had finished two of his games at a single visit, and Russell one.

Results. Quarter-finals: Mike Russell 5 Nalin Patel 0; Christ Shutt 5 Lee Lagan 3; Peter Gilchrist 5 David Causier 1; Devendra Joshi 5 Paul Mifsud 4. Semi-finals: Mike Russell 5 Christ Shutt 1; Peter Gilchrist 5 Devendra Joshi 2. Final: Mike Russell 6 Peter Gilchrist 4.

Attendance's at most sessions were disappointing, the exception being the quarter-final match involving local hero Paul Mifsud, which was packed to capacity.

Russell received £7,000 for his victory and Gilchrist £4,000 as runnerup.

The remainder of the field had the opportunity to acquire an early season sun-tan. Alan Chamberlain was tournament Director and local referees were provided by the Maltese Association.