The Hindu : It's a toss up between Indians and Thais

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Sailing

It's a toss up between Indians and Thais

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE March 17. The week long Om Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance second Asian billiards championship is all set to get underway at the KSBA hall here from Monday.

And it could well be a toss up between billiards pros from Thailand and India on who will be crowned the Asian champion, if indications are to go by, next Sunday.

The Thais reached here in the early hours but both Uden Khaimukh and Mongkhon K, brushing aside the jet lag looked ready to take on the rest.

The field barring reigning champion Geet Sethi, away in New Delhi for the awards ceremony there and who will be here only on Tuesday morning, practised on the match tables and looked at ease.

Three of the four tables will be used throughout while the fourth is to be used only on two days - for the last set of league matches on March 22 and the quarterfinals the next morning. The semifinals will be played simultaneously the same evening while the final is scheduled for Sunday, March 24.

The 16 players from six countries have been divided into two groups with the top four from each pool making the knock-out quarterfinal draw.

Geet Sethi, the winner of the inaugural Asian championship way back in 1986 at Kolkata, heads pool A and will have Indians Devendra Joshi and Dhruv Sitwala to contend with.

Singapore's Ronnie Chua Poh Teck along with Thai Mongkhon and Indonesia's Muslim could be the one's to pose a serious challenge to the Indian trio while Boteju (Sri Lanka) and U. Aung San Oo (Myanmar) at best look likely to stretch the contest.

Pool B looks more open with Ashok Shandilya, the national champion, spearheading the Indian challenge along with Alok Kumar and young Pankaj Advani, against the likes of Uden Khaimukh (Thailand) and the duo each from Singapore (Theik Chong Alan Puan, Glen Yeo Teck Shin) and Myanmar (U Kyaw Oo and Uwin Myint).

Geet Sethi's longevity here is to be appreciated. Even after 16 years since his title triumph the unassuming Indian stalwart is set for more laurels and should use the opportunity to fine tune his game for the Asian Games in Pusan later this year.

That the Ahmedabad based Sethi won innumerable World titles in between only showcases his growing stature in the game.

Indians from the days of Wilson Jones and Michael Ferreira have dominated the game both at the Asian and World level and look to do so here again.

But to check the free-flowing big breaks that the Indians are capable of the 80-89 point baulk-line rule will be in play in the two hour 100 point frames. While in the league stage it will be best of five frames affair the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played over best of seven frames and the final over best of nine.

The Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA), which has stepped in to host most of the major events that's come the BSFI way, is leaving no stone unturned to make the revival of the championship, a success. The spruced up hall with banners and hoardings around the four tables and the stands matches the enthusiasm that the organisers are showing.

The league matches will follow soon after the formal inauguration at 10.30 a.m.

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