Date:22/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/03/22/stories/2004032203862100.htm

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Russell storms into semifinals

By Geet Sethi

PRESTATYN, MARCH 21. Displaying sublime form, Mike Russell, the defending champion and world No. 1, stormed into the semifinals of the 2004 world professional billiards championship with an emphatic 1,207-406 victory over Nalin Patel, the World No. 7.

In the other three quarterfinal encounters which concluded late on Saturday night, David Causier edged out Geet Sethi 971-722, Roxton Chapman eliminated the second seed Peter Gilchrist 572-513 and Lee Lagan scored a morale boosting 762-702 win over World No. 4 Chris Shutt.

By his own admission, Russell is not practising with the same intensity and application as before. However he made good use of the huge reserves of confidence to unleash two successive breaks of 213 and 287 in the 20th and 21st visits respectively. For Patel, a methodical and careful cueist, who relies more on the all round game than pure top of the table, being hit by 500 points was clearly disheartening.

Lagan maintained his composure to carve out a praiseworthy victory over the talented Shutt.

Lagan is a new entrant in the professional fold but his knowledge about the nuances of the sport and mental toughness have helped in making him a feared opponent in just a couple of years. There was only one three-figure contribution by each cueist reflecting the pressure being felt by both. However, Lagan was the more consistent of the two whilst Shutt was unable to discover his touch at the top of the table and was frustrated by too many missed red pots.

Roxton Chapman's interest in the sport has reduced significantly since he joined the Royal Air Force two years ago. However his form seems to have an inverse relationship to the amount of time he spends on practice. Last night he was responsible for the biggest upset of the tournament when he edged out former world champion Gilchrist in a two and half hour match.

The 30-year-old is perhaps reaping the benefits of the painful exercise he undertook two years ago to change his very unorthodox stance and rounded cue arm in favour of an orthodox style. It is never easy to change the basic foundation of one's game after so many years.

Yet, for those who have the mental fortitude and conviction to persist in discovering a better technique, the rewards are plenty. And last night Chapman collected his reward by way of the 572-513 win over one of the games most consistent performers.

My own match against Causier left me somewhat disheartened. Having imbibed some good advice regarding my fluency and having put in requisite time on the practice table, inconsistency still plagues me with alarming regularity.

Causier, playing in his characteristic swash buckling and adventurous manner, compiled runs of 102, 106 and 181 whilst I managed breaks of 100 and 118. The final score was 977-722 in my opponent's favour.

The results:

Quarterfinals: Mike Russell 1207 (117, 213, 287, 192) bt Nalin Patel 406; Lee Lagan 762 (128) bt Chris Shutt 702 (101); David Causier 971 (102, 106, 181) bt Geet Sethi 722 (100, 118); Roxton Chapman 572 (172) bt Peter Gilchrist 513 (102).