Devendra Joshi enters semifinals

By M.C. Raman

CHENNAI, FEB. 21 For once qualifier Shyam Jagtiani of Railways, no mean player, realised that racing with Devendra Joshi of Maharashtra is like competing with a bullet train. There is nothing one can do about it expect look at it like a speck at the horizon and then disappear completely. Shyam had that misfortune of seeing Joshi (India No. 2) move into the semifinals with a runaway 1504-459 victory in the 67th Khel.com National men's billiards championship at Wild West, Spencer Plaza, here on Wednesday.

As Arvind Savur said everything about this game is in the mind. If it is paralysed by rival's crippling performance the challenger can be at the crossroads. Shyam was at the crossroads not knowing what to do. Joshi's breaks came like goods train compartments - 91, 110, 99, 144, 92, 152, 162, 89, 75 and 107 and every time when a spectator peeped into the table there was this same voice ``Joshi 144, Joshi 152'' which came with sickening monotony.

Shyam was sitting in a corner brooding and praying god to do something to stop this man who, a professional and a class top of the table player, took over like a table curator, hardly allowing Shyam to challenge him. Joshi missed the title last year at Bangalore by nine points against Ashok Shandilya, racing against the time, which he did not keep track properly. He has figured in the final three times since 1990, but the Maharashtra cueist is yet to win the coveted trophy. ``It is good to be in fine touch. Let me cross the hurdle (semi-final) tomorrow against Manoj first,'' said Joshi after the three-honour encounter.

In fact, the tie did not give any hint in the beginning it would be such a lop-sided one. Joshi was leading 311-206 at half way stage. And much of the damage for Shyam came in the second half in which Joshi bulldozed his way.

Alok Kumar's 165 launched him straightaway against Rupesh Shah of Gujarat and that start finally saved the Punjab man whose game got bogged down later. At one stage it was a close race with 400 points each and Rupesh's breaks of 92,63 and 67 brought pressure on Alok, who however stayed on course to win 712-572.

B. Bhaskar of Karnataka had umpteen chances in the last half an hour to bridge that 100-point lead which Manoj Kothari of Bengal took. But he failed to cash in on them and lost 704-881

Defending champion Ashok Shandilya of Railways, like Alok, took off with a 162 and Arun Agarwal was struggling to put his game together. Arun's 101 and 105 could not lift his game as Shandilya managed to maintain a 300-point lead with a century break (150) and an 89. Shandilya hit the 1000 mark (1126-658).

In the morning, while all the pre-quarter-finals went on expected lines, Tamil Nadu's Prem Prakash had a golden chance to get the better of Arun Agarwal when he was leading by 18 points till his 47th visit. Then he started missing easy shots and Arun, with a break of 67, surged ahead to get a place in the quarter-finals with a 555-440 win.

The semi-final line-up : Ashok Shandilya v Alok Kumar and Devendra Joshi v Manoj Kothari.

The results:

Quarter-finals - Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) bt Arun Agarwal (Maha) 1126-658: Alok Kumar (Pun) bt Rupesh Shah (Guj) 712-572; Manoj Kothari (Beng) bt B. Bhaskar (Kar) 881-704; Devendra Joshi (Maha) Shyam Jagtiani (Rlys) 1504-459.

Pre-quarter-finals : Ashok Shandilya bt Rafath Habib (Rlys) 955- 313; Arun Agarwal bt Prem Prakash (TN) 555-440; Rupesh Shah bt Varun Taneja (Rlys) 743-330; Alok Kumar bt Md. Asim (Beng) 634- 526; B. Bhaskar bt Antim Singhi (Rlys) 541-435; Manoj Kothari bt Jai Ganesh (TN) 644-405; Shyam Jagtiani bt Dharminder Lilly (Pun) 576-381; Devendra Joshi bt Mukesh Rehani (Del) 685-389.

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