World Professional Champion Mike Russell won the second leg of the Radiant Grand Slam comfortably beating Norman Dagley by 6 games to 2 at the KGS Club Bangalore on July 14th. Dagley had won the first leg played in Delhi last November when he beat Bob Close by 7 games to 6 after beating Russell in the Semi. The Tournament organisers might have been Morecambe and Wise judging from the first day though subsequent events took a slightly more sinister turn.
The Tournament was not held in the Club originally selected but in the Karnataka Government Club where there was no air-conditioning, toilet facilities left much to be desired, and organisation in general tending towards the chaotic. From the "Deccan Herald" dated July 10th, "The KSBA (Karnataka State Billiards Association) played into the hands of equally fickle Lady Luck (!).
The power went truant, hampering work on the tables and forcing the inauguration to be held in the corridor adjoining the hall. Thus the day's matches, scheduled to commence at 11 a.m. only got under way well after 5.00 p.m. in the evening."
Russell's comments would no doubt have been interesting. One well-known English Professional described the event as a glorified Pro-Am and that 'They' should send somebody to the next Mini-Prix to see how a tournament should be organised. On the other hand it is perhaps rather unfair to blame the organisers for a power failure; from the "Indian Express" dated July 10th, "There is no better spoilsport than the Karnataka Electricity Board. When you reschedule your programme to overcome the KEB's shutdown timings, invariably the electricity board authorities will have again rescheduled their own timings to leave you fretting and fuming. Even the rain stops, but not the KEB's vagaries. The organisers who had toiled for months to get up such a major international event, were put to great embarrassment when the function could not be started on time. Chief guests, Agriculture Minister S. Bangarappa and Member of Parliament R. Gundu Rao, apart from the host of foreign and national players, were kept waiting for a long time. Finally the organisers decided to conduct the function in the cramped verandah instead of the spacious hall. The Minister presided and Gundu Rao lit the lamp to symbolically declare the championship open."
One feels a twinge of sympathy for the organisers; on the other hand, if they had, "Toiled for months," then they should perhaps have been better prepared.
Traditionally it is a small boy who climbs up a rope and disappears, the Bangalore variation saw Clive Everton vanish and though the Snooker Scene editor is not without a sense of humour he found the events of Group 'C' decidedly unfunny. The non-arrival of the Sri Lankan representative reduced this group to three players with two to qualify. Everton had a good 4-2 win over Michael Ferreira (Games of 150 up) but lost 4 - 0 to India's Subash Agarwal. Ferreira then needed to beat Agarwal by at least 4 - 3 to be sure of qualifying for the next round. Ferreira won 4 -2 but it was the manner of the victory that led to the accusation that Agarwal had thrown the match. In his 4-0 victory over Everton Agarwal had played brilliantly with breaks of 97* 151* 140* and 66. In his match with Ferreira he could manage a best of only 68* playing in a careless fashion and, according to eyewitnesses, making little or no attempt to win thus ensuring that his compatriot would go through. The reasons are unclear but it is a fairly safe guess that the TV Authorities would have wanted their own man through. Everton openly accused Agarwal of not, trying an accusation given even more weight by the fact that later on the same day, when playing Geet Sethi in the first round of the next stage, he won 4-2. Anyone who has seen Sethi play will know what that result means. It was an unhappy episode which has done no good whatsoever to the cause of Billiards worldwide.
A) N. Dagley, G. Sethi. B) R. Foldvari, R. Close. C) S. Agrawal, M. Ferreira. D) M. Russell, P. Gilchrist.
M. Russell, R. Foldvari, P. Gilchrist, N. Dagley.
| Russell
| 5 | Foldvari
| 3 | ||
| Dagley
| 5 | Gilchrist
| 3 |
| Mike Russell
| 6 | Norman Dagley
| 2 |
Russell won the match very comfortably as Dagley faded after showing fine form in earlier games when he had beaten Russell 4 - 3 in the quarter final qualifying group. The Indian Express dated July 15th, "Mike Russell did not have to toil - he wasted no time in polishing off Norman Dagley's tentative challenge 6 - 2, and finished the match ahead of schedule, much to the embarrassment of the organisers."
It is not the first time that Russell has embarrassed organisers with an early finish in a short-game match but that is another story. As has happened so often in the past two or three years Russell showed a remarkable ability to run to game with one good break when it was most needed. That ability seems to have made the difference in Bangalore though the figures are surprisingly similar:-
Russell won 34 out of 49 games with 26 breaks over 50 and 18 centuries. Dagley won 31 out of 49 games with 25 breaks over 50 and 16 centuries.
Of the other players Murphy, Close, Foldvari, and particularly Gilchrist, all had a very good Press, whilst of the home players Manoj Kothari was particularly impressive.
The third leg of the Grand Slam is scheduled for Delhi in October.