Superb Sitwala on song

By Geet Sethi

CHRISTCHURCH, SEPT. 17. Dhruv Sitwala seems to be on a roll. The affable left-hander, who has already done enough in the Rockpool IBSF World billiards championship being staged at the Hornby Club in Christchurch, reached a different level on Monday. A level perhaps not reached by him ever since he started playing as a 20- year-old in Mumbai.

The 28-year-old, who had clinched a narrow victory over Devendra Joshi on Sunday, carved out a comprehensive 1697- 456 victory over New Zealand's Ray Habgood to romp home as the No. 1 in his group.

The highlight was the sequence of six century breaks and in particular a superb 295. A momentary lapse in concentration prevented him from converting that break into what would have been an extremely satisfactory triple century.

In any case, the 295 is now Sitwala's highest tournament effort, an effort which he should be proud of. It is also a feat, which when regarded in the perspective of this World championship, will provide him with the confidence to believe in himself during the knock-out stage commencing on Thursday.

By beating Joshi, the current National champion in his earlier league match, Sitwala exhibited his fighting qualities and temperament and with the proven capabilities of big breaks, he can realistically look at proceeding further in the championship, perhaps even to the final.

Sitwala's performance was embellished with glittering breaks of 129, 100, 166, 295, 114 & 147. When viewed against the backdrop of performances from Ashok Shandilya, Nalin Patel, Mathew Bolton, Paul Mifsud and yours truly, Sitwala's display may seem to lack the depth, his averages not justifying his promotion into the elite group.

However, he has improved with every match here and that gives hope that he may improve further and be able to bring his practice form into the match arena. And if he can achieve that, his opponents would be looking at 400+ breaks from the cue of the stylish player.

Vishal Madan, another youngster from Mumbai, also won a crucial league tie against Tony Stephens, which will give him a back door entry into the last 16, to be decided on the basis of the best performances of four of the No.3s from the six groups.

The 19-year-old impressed with runs of 105 and 130 and even though the standard of his play was nowhere near to that of Sitwala, he has given Indian billiards great hope.

The top seeds had a rest day and commence their last league matches on Tuesday. The top two seeds of each group will fight it out for the final standings in their respective groups. The Nalin Patel-B. Bhaskar encounter will be keenly contested even though Patel, ranked No. 8 in the world professional rankings enjoys a distinct edge over the former National runner- up.

Ashok Shandilya and Alok Kumar will vie for the top spot in section 3, while Manoj Kothari and Australia's Mathew Bolton would fight it out in their section.

With three four hundred breaks, more than ten triple centuries and a string of century breaks already recorded in the league phase of the event, one looks forward to the knock-out stage where clearly, all the cueists warmed up after twenty hours each of competitive play, should perform with greater application and enthusiasm.

The results:Dhruv Sitwala 1697 (129, 100, 166, 295, 114, 147) bt Ray Habgood 456, Neil Croft 1367 (119, 112, 129) bt Ron Milichich, Peter De Groot 964 bt Gus Templeton 845, Joe Millen 1191 bt Eric Worsely 782, Paul Stocker 1371 bt John MacKay 619, Frank Humphries 1160 (162) bt Malcolm Cooke 737, Vishal Madan 1036 (105, 130) bt Tony Stephens 735, Derek Gibb 795 bt Tim Walters 765, John Hartley 907 (109) bt Joe Ifa 817, Merv Stewart 930 bt Peri Lilii 782, Wayne Carey 1040 bt Brian Moulday 783, Gary Oliver 1437 bt Keith Taylor 526.

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