Bennett quells Sitwala's challenge

By Geet Sethi

MIDDLESBROUGH, NOV. 28. The 2001 British Open Billiards Championship commenced on Wednesday with India's Dhruv Sitwala becoming the first Indian casualty. His opponent Paul Bennett, who has risen to 16th in the world rankings from a lowly 28th last year, exhibited remarkable composure at the concluding stages of the two hour contest to emerge victorious by a 489-395 margin.

The encounter, which commenced at 1100 hrs. this morning, featured the customary hesitation and fumbling by both cueists, very natural in the opening match of any tournament. Yet, it was Sitwala, the 28-year-old from Mumbai who established the early initiative with runs of 44 & 62 at his third and fourth visits to the table.

These two small but very useful efforts allowed him the luxury of forging a 40-point advantage early on in the match. But the standard of play plummeted down after the tenth visit, clearly reflected by Sitwala's accumulation of only 43 points in the fifteen visits to the table.

His opponent did not play much better. However, he managed to keep the scoreboard ticking albeit with very meagre efforts. At the end of the 28th visit, the Englishman led 286- 210. With 20 minutes left on the clock, Sitwala managed to reduce his deficit to 11 points, but then committed the blunder of playing a very poor safety, which eventually cost him the match. After potting his opponent's cue ball, the Indian failed in his attempt to bring both balls into baulk. His opponent seized the opportunity to carve out what proved to be a match winning 85, which terminated when Bennett missed a straightforward red pot after negotiating the crucial baulk line crossing at 80.

Sitwala collected 38 points but a bad contact on a cannon saw him getting covered at the top end of the table. There was just not enough time left after that and Bennett confirmed his berth in the last 16, where he will now meet the seemingly invincible Mike Russell.

For Sitwala, appearing in only his second professional appearance in the UK, the defeat will put into perspective his own standard of play and how much more really he needs to improve to be able to hold his own against an unforgiving opposition. He remains one of the most talented cueists to have emerged from India.

An ample justification of his talent being provided by a superb performance at the recently concluded IBSF World Billiards Championship at Christchurch in New Zealand. However, alien conditions, the knock-out format and much tighter pockets and quicker tables took their toll on his ability to perform to his full potential.

Mike Ferreira commences his first round encounter against Bradford's Mark Hirst this afternoon hoping to rediscover his old touch, which has deserted him for the last decade. His focus and concentration towards his duties as official coach of the Indian Billiards & Snooker team for all official events including the Asian Games has clearly shifted his priorities from competitive play.

Yet, he admits that he has been putting in some serious work on the practice table prior to coming to U.K. ``I just want to be able to play well again and am not really worried about winning or losing,'' he said.

He appears in a professional competition after a gap of two years. Against Mark Hirst, a relative rookie in the professional circuit, Ferreira should come out unscathed in the two-hour contest this afternoon.

The result (first round): Paul Bennett bt Dhruv Sitwala 489-395.

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