Another great day for Indians at Hornsby Club

By Geet Sethi

CHRISTCHURCH, SEPT. 12. Indians dominated the second day of the Rockpool IBSF World billiards championship at the Hornsby Club here on Wednesday, with Devendra Joshi, the National champion, once again sparkling with a superb break of 456 to better his 358 on Tuesday.

Playing with the fluency and determination of old, I cracked an array of big breaks and in the process accumulated 3084 points. However it was Ashok Shandilya who not only compiled the highest break of the tournament, a 464, but also his highest ever match break.

With the format being a round robin upto the last 16 stage and the fact that fresh seedings will be given to the winners of the six groups by virtue of the total points difference that they establish in all their respective league matches, it has made it essential for every player to score as heavily in the round robin stage of this tournament.

With Wednesday's large score, I lead the table in the point difference and even though it is still early in the tournament, this buffer, which I have established over the other cueists, should hold me in good stead.

Having made a concentrated effort in putting in about three weeks of practice prior to flying out to Christchurch, I had found my rhythm about a week ago. The sheer joy of being able to position the cue ball exactly where one wants to and the speed with which I have started playing has enthused me and I look forward to the coming days with anticipation.

Joshi has matured immensely as a player over the years and his breaks here have provided substantial proof of his coming of age. As the quality of wine is judged by its aroma and vintage, in billiards the quality of a cueist is deciphered by looking at his break building capacity. And just as a fine wine has to serve it's time maturing itself in wooden casks, a player must go through the grind and work tirelessly in understanding this wonderfully complex game with all it's nuances.

Joshi, it appears, has finished his apprenticeship. There is an air of certainty about the way he approaches the table and his ability to concentrate differentiates him from his other team members. With three more games to go in the round robin stage, one looks forward to bigger breaks from the former World professional runner-up.

What can one say about Shandilya? The plucky and gutsy double Asian Games gold medallist is a fierce competitor and has built an envious reputation for himself for effecting great comebacks.

His performance on Wednesday, which also included efforts of 164, 166 & 122, was solid, and though he has failed to accumulate as many points as Joshi or myself, he is playing with a degree of confidence that can upset any player in the world.

Nalin Patel struggled, unable to get into an acceptable rhythm compiling only two century breaks in his contest against Ron Milicich. I have been practising with Patel at the Bombay Gymkhana and know what he is capable of and hopefully it will be just a matter of time before he comes into his own.

The other Indians progressed unscathed and one must make a note of Dhruv Sitwala's 205, his maiden double century in competitive play.

The results: Nalin Patel 1785 (172, 135) bt Ron Milicich 554, Geet Sethi 3084 (308, 153, 321, 132, 223, 222, 256, 167, 204) bt Eric Worsley 286, Ashok Shandilya 2295 (464, 181, 114) bt Malcolm Cooke 585, Devendra Joshi 2454 (286, 224, 101456, 121, 208) bt Ray Habgood 355, Joe Millen 1062 bt Merv Stewart 603, Tim Walters 983 bt Neil Croft 934, Frank Humphries 869 bt Gary Oliver 656, Dhruv Sitwala 1409 (205) bt John Hartley 571, Vishal Madan 1084 bt Peter De Groot 685, Paul Stocker 988 bt Wayne Carey 708.

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