It's an all-Indian final

By Geet Sethi

CHRISTCHURCH, SEPT. 22. It's going to be an all-Indian final at the Rockpool IBSF World billiards championship. While Ashok Shandilya, runner-up in the IBSF world billiards championship on two previous occasions, easily disposed off the challenge of an off-colour Paul Mifsud, yours truly uncorked a 551 to oust a battling and resilient Devendra Joshi.

The 551 supercedes Joshi's 540 as the highest break of the event and considering the delicate situation of the contest, the effort was perhaps my best effort ever. I had trailed Joshi by 108 points with 50 minutes remaining on the clock. Joshi had converted an unfinished 226 break of the first session into a praiseworthy 444. That run gave him the luxury of establishing a 190-point advantage. I had earlier recorded runs of 146, 300 & 104 to end the first session averaging 54.58.

By any standards the quality of play in that opening two-hour session was outstanding. But what followed in the second session clearly set new benchmarks in competitive billiards. The 551 featured five really difficult recovery shots. One was an in- off into the center pocket off the side cushion. The other four were all red pots. It was imperative that I stayed on the table and accumulate as many points as I could.

I have never seen Joshi perform with such resolve and commitment. He was unyielding, unperturbed and more importantly gave indications of a genuine self-belief. Playing the floating white at the top of the table, I just wondered as he compiled that 444 on how I could arrest his fluency and rapid scoring. And the answer appeared in the form of that 551. Particularly pleasing was the fact that I could better my opponent's 540, which was the highest break of the event so far.

Some statistics will reveal the outstanding billiards on display in front of a full house here at the Hornby Club in Christchurch. Joshi scored 629 points in the first session, which included the unfinished 226 to average a creditable 57.18 while I accumulated 655 for an average of 54.58 in that opening session.

But it was the second session, which provided the excitement. While Joshi scored that 444 and another 168 for an average of 54.25 in the second session compiling 434 points, yours truly scored 874 for a session average of 124.85. My match average was 80.47 while my opponent's match average was 55.94.

Shandilya once again exhibited his consistency in scoring those bread and butter breaks against Malta's Mifsud. Runs of 178 in the eighth visit and successive efforts of 183 & 114 in the 14th & 15th visits laid the foundation of his victory. Mifsud struggled to retain position unable to negotiate a three- figure effort in the opening session. And when the burly Shandilya cracked in a 254 early in the second session in response to a gallant 213 from the Maltese, the match was as good as won for the Indian with an hour and a half still remaining.

Whatever the outcome of the Sethi-Shandilya contest on Sunday, the trophy will be coming home to India. The final will be played over six hours and over three two hour session.

The results (semifinals): Ashok Shandilya 1797 (178, 183, 114, 254, 100) beat Paul Mifsud 873 (213); Geet Sethi 1529 (146, 300, 104, 171, 551) beat Devendra Joshi 1063 (278, 444, 168).

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