IBSF World Billiards 2010

20 AUGUST 2010

Session I : Russell wins in Geet-Russell tussle

The morning session on opening day of 2010 IBSF World Billiards Championship at PYC Hindu Gymkhana Club at Pune. The day for which every cuesports lover was waiting for, and the simple reason, they got a chance to witness the match between Geet Sethi of India against Mike Russell of England. Though the disappointment for Indian fans, as Geet lost to him in straight sets 0-3. Mike was absolutely on fire from very first game. He demonstrated the billiards for which he is well known. The First game Geet started and missed on 31. From there, Russell instantly moved on top-table and compiled his first century break. He missed on 142 but nothing to worry him as Geet again missed on a total of 49 allowing Russell to finish the first game in his favour.

Second game, Russell compiled two comfortable breaks of 88 and 44 to take a lead of 2-0. In third game, on a break of 56, Russell fumbled after which Geet compiled a break of 58, but that was not sufficient to stop Russell and Russell finished the proceedings with a break of 87 in his favour 3-0.

In an another interesting match, Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) defeated Kyaw Oo (pronunciation 'Chaaoo') of Myanmar with a damage of 1 game. The first game was very close with a score of 150-137 in favour of Peter. In second game, Peter displayed quality game and compiled a break of 140 to take a lead of 2-0. Though Kyaw Oo pocketed third game but Peter again constructed 102 in fourth to finish the match in his favour 3-1.

In other morning session matches, Phil Mumford beat Sourav Kothar (India) 3-1, Ashok Shandilya (India) beat Gary Oliver (New Zealand) 3-1 whereas Aidan Murray (Ireland), Rupesh Shah (India) and Dhruv Sitwala (India) won their matches comfortably 3-0 each.

Session II : Struggling Geet

The second session had no good news for Geet Sethi as he lost to Nay Thway Oo of Myanmar in straight sets. In the first game, Geet scored 114 with a break of 47, but constructing two breaks of 70 and 51, Nay Thway Oo pocketed the game. In the next two games, Nay compiled decent breaks of 94 and 125 and made a damage in the Indian camp scoring 3-0 against Sethi.

Devendra Joshi�s defeat was another damage to the Indian Camp when he lost to Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thailand). Playing a modest game, Thawat posted victory over Joshi in straight sets. The third game went very close, where Joshi needed only 3 points to make a comeback but he missed on a total score of 147.

Mike Russell continued his win in the second session where he defeated Min Hu Baek of Korea 3-0 constructing breaks of 90, 115 and 146 in all three games. Praput C. (Thailand) and Bhaskar (India) also registered wins over Gary Oliver (New Zealand) and Chul Ho Hwang (Korea) respectively in straight sets.

Billy Bousfield from England went down to reigning World Champion, Pankaj Advani. Pankaj compiled breaks of 96, 101 and 142 in first, second and fourth game to win the match 3-1.

Session III : Billy went down fighting.

In an interesting match of the third session, Alok Kumar (India) defeated Billy Bousfield (England) 3-1. The first game of the match went very close where Alok moved just ahead of Billy 151-149. Second game Billy made a comeback and leveled the match, but in the third game he missed on a score of 134. Without wasting this opportunity, Alok scored a break of 132 and took a lead of 2-1. In the fourth game, Alok did not give any chance to Billy and smashing a break of 131, wins the match 3-1.

Dhruv Sitwala (India) kept his cool against Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) and defeated him 3-0.

Pankaj Advani (India) and Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thailand) also registered comfortable wins against both Korean players in straight sets 3-0.

Ashok Shandilya (India) defeated his country mate Sourav Kothari 3-1. Shandilya took an initial lead of 2-0 comfortably constructing breaks of 90 and 82 in the first two games. Third game Sourav instantly moved on top-table and compiled 111. There he missed off- the-cushion cannon on yellow by a very thin gap. After a score of 55 by Shandilya, Sourav made 40 more points to pocket the game. Shandilya made his intentions clear and without giving any chance to Sourav, he finished the game and match with the aid of two breaks of 70 and 78 in fourth game.

Session IV : Mike, Rupesh thru to knock-out; Must win situation for Geet to stay in 'Title' race

Winning all three matches of the day, Mike Russell (England) and Rupesh Shah (India) reached the knockout stage from Group A. Russell made it comfortably by defeating Aidan Murray of Ireland 3-0 scoring break of 150 in 3rd Game; whereas Rupesh Shah went ahead of Geet Sethi (India) in an exciting match in the end.

Rupesh with breaks of 73 and 112 in first two games took a 2-0 lead, then Geet made a break of 70 to narrow the deficit and win the third game. Smelling the intentions of Geet, Rupesh played steadily and with the aid of a few small breaks, he finished the proceedings by winning 3-1.

Sourav Kothari outplayed Gary Oliver of New Zealand 3-0. Praput Chaithanasakun (Thailand) also defeated Phil Mumford of England 3-1.

The last match of the day created excitement as it reached the deciding game between Kyaw Oo (Myanmar) and Devendra Joshi (India). Despite making 75+ breaks in most of the games, Joshi lost the decider to Kyaw Oo 2-3. Losing the second game despite making a break of 125, Joshi charged himself up and won the next two games to level the match. In the decider, Kyaw Oo made 79 and a worthy 43 to win the mach 3-2.