Nalin Patel makes his mark

By Geet Sethi

CHRISTCHURCH, SEPT. 14. The Rockpool IBSF World billiards being played at the Hornby Club here witnessed three triple century breaks, two from Nalin Patel and myself and one from Australia's Mathew Bolton.

The standard of play has been exceptional, sufficient proof provided by the prolific scores recorded, specially by the Indian contingent. Also of great importance is the fact that all the top Indians seem to be playing to their potential.

The first three days had seen breaks of 400+ from Devendra Joshi and Ashok Shandilya. Today it was the turn of Nalin Patel, the second highest ranked Indian in the world professional billiards rankings to make his mark in this tournament.

Patel had struggled to find his touch in his opening two encounters despite winning the ties with relative ease. Clearly unsettled with his inability to perform to his true potential, the 41-year-old Mumbai based cueist provided the first indication of his class with an immaculate 350. That break released him from his inhibitions and self-doubts as he went from strength to strength ending his match with an average of 33.8.

The tall former cricketer, who had nursed ambitions of representing India in the Asian Games in 1998 has spent the last three years in wilderness with the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India and the IOA disqualifying him from representing the country on the basis of his British passport. This despite the fact that he is an Indian resident and pays taxes in India. To further add salt to his smarting wounds, he was then not allowed to participate in the domestic state and national level events.

What seems odd here is that while he is very much part of the Indian contingent, he seems to be representing WPBSA. So, for the sake of argument, if he does win the title here, he would not be representing any country.

The governing body of the sport in our country should try and resolve this issue once and for all. The WPBSA rules are clear; if a player is a resident of any country for more than three years, he represents that country. It was on that basis that Patel represented India in the Test match organized in Mumbai in 1999.

Patel's 1726-675 victory over Tim Walters from Australia was further aided with other breaks of 194 & 243. He still has to play India's B. Bhaskar and Australia's Neil Croft, but going by his solid exhibition today, he should not have any problem in overcoming the challenge.

Devendra Joshi strung together five centuries and four doubles en-route a 2174-715 victory over England's John Hartley.

Playing Merv Stewart, a 73-year-old veteran from Christchurch, yours truly once again gave evidence of a much- needed return to form. Compiling breaks of 345, 272, 216 and four other three- figure efforts I once again notched up the highest aggregate score by virtue of a 2373-550 victory.

With the winners of each of the six groups being re- seeded after the league phase on the basis of the highest points difference, it becomes quite important to score heavily. At this stage I am head and shoulders ahead of the others in the point difference table, which keeps me in line for the top seeding for the knock- out stage.

The results: Paul Mifsud (Malta) 1883 (103, 111, 130, 147, 104, 220) beat Wayne Carey 736; Nalin Patel 1726 (350, 194, 243) beat Tim Walters (Aus) 675; Devendra Joshi 2174 (113, 117, 128, 233, 203, 100, 135, 241, 238) beat John Hartely (Eng) 715;

Ashok Shandilya 2201 (144, 166, 192, 205, 249, 247, 126) beat Gary Oliver 501; Mathew Bolton (Aus) 1448 (138, 123, 310, 204 unf) beat Vishal Madan 713; Geet Sethi 2373 (147, 146, 216, 272, 345, 163, 136) beat Merv Stewart 550.

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