IBSF World Billiards 2010

24 AUGUST 2010

Time Format begins

Session 1

Match 8: I know I should go with match sequence but when someone like Mike is on fire, all eyes turn automatically to him. In the opening session match Mike Russell took India’s Rupesh Shah on challenge in a time format match. Rupesh surely did not want to be a spectator like last night’s final between Mike and Pankaj, but one can’t do something when the situation is ‘you propose, God dispose’. Rupesh after winning the lag started the match and crafted 41 in his second visit and played a couple of safeties without knowing that Mike’s seventh visit is going to be a massive one. The seventh visit, Mike blazed everything from his gun (cue) and smashed a 774 in a very short time. He was open and he demonstrated almost every shot he has in this 774. Rupesh was merely a spectator and he remained till Russell missed white in-off on top-table. With nothing to lose Rupesh gathered all his energy again, which he wasted while sitting idle, and in his 9th visit scored 80 to get his rhythm back, followed by 140 in the 13th visit. This was again countered by Mike with 241 in his 13th visit only to maintain the lead. Already lost, Rupesh can only narrow the losing margin which he did by crafting two breaks of 251 and 166 in the time left in the match.

Match 1: After recovering from illness and missing out on the point format, Phil Mumford (England) made his presence felt in the time format against Nay Thway Oo of Myanmar. Playing consistently both the cueists played some good knocks each with one century break. In the end, Nay Thway Oo stepped ahead, defeating Phil Mumford by 116 points.

Match 2: The weighty Indian cueist Ashok Shandilya took on challenge the Irishman Aidan Murray. With six double figure breaks Shandilya defeated Aidan by a difference of 359 points. Shandilya missed a century in the 16th visit by one point.

Match 3: Kyaw Oo (Myanmar) discovered himself for the time format. Starting with breaks of 100, 116 the in 3rd and 6th visits, he scored a break of 241 in the 17th visit while playing against Alok Kumar of India. Alok managed to score only one century break in the 12th visit. He also scored 81 in his last visit before bowing down to Kyaw Oo by 682 points.

Match 4: B. Bhaskar (India) played against Korean Tae Hoon Jung in Group B match and as presumed, Bhaskar finished with two century breaks of 135 and 168 in 28th and 43rd visit. The Korean managed a break of 57 only in his 9th visit. Bhaskar defeated him by 708 points.

Match 5: Another big gun of English Billiards, Peter Gilchrist outplayed another Englishman Billy Bousfield by 745 points. Peter scored a total of 1364 comprising breaks of 144, 288, 291 and 352 in the 8th, 19th, 28th and 31st visits respectively. Near to closing time, Billy managed two century breaks of 115 and 136 in the 35th and 37th visits.

Match 6: Dhruv Sitwala from India also sailed without hurdle against the Korean challenge of Min Hu Baek. Though the Korean cueist scored a total 394 in the three hour match, he managed to score only 34 in his 8th visit. Dhruv smashed only one century break i.e. 167 in the 7th visit before winning by 741 points.

Match 7: Just like match No.6, Joshi repelled the Korean challenge from Chul Ho Hwang by a difference of 1166 points. Chul score a break of 33 in the 25th visit. Joshi scored 240 and 273 in the 16th and 31st visits.

Session 2

Match 1: The second session starts with the match between Devendra Joshi (India) and Abdul Omar (Sri Lanka). Continuing the morning session’s form, Joshi crafted a number of 75+ breaks to defeat the Sri Lankan challenge by 954 points. He crafted two century breaks of 168 and 111 in the 7th and 12th visits.

Match 2: Mike Russell, as usual started with a bang in the second session against Chul Ho Hwang. On the third visit itself he scored a break of 697 followed with 217 and 110 in the 4th and 11th breaks respectively to left nothing for the Korean. In the 17th visit Mike again crafted a break of 232 to defeat Chul by a margin of 1144 points.

Match 3: Ahh... Peter was also in a race of big scores and he did while playing against the Kiwi challenger, Gary Oliver. Gary managed to score a break of 103 in 19th visit but that was not enough to challenge Gilly, who smashed 198, 121, 273, 111, 184, 103 and 172 in the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 16th, 26th and 38th visits respectively. The winning margin was 1071 points.

Match 4: Billy Bousfield (England) started with a century break in his second visit against Dhruv Sitwala (India) but Dhruv with a few moderate breaks stepped ahead of Billy and took a handsome lead. In the 13th visit Billy crafted one more century break of 133 points before bowing down against Dhruv Sitwala’s 251 in the 14th visit and 195 in the 20th. Dhruv won by 541 points.

Match 5: Kyaw Oo from Myanmar opened with a break of 117 on his second visit against Billiards maestro Geet Sethi (India). Geet countered him with a break of 194 on the third visit but Kyaw Oo continued to threaten him with two beautifully crafted breaks 160 and 123 in the 9th and 14th visits. He went ahead of Geet by nearly 250 points till the halfway point. Changing gear thereon, Geet smashed three breaks of 231, 258 and 341 in the 21st, 24th and 27th visits to defeat Kyaw Oo by 585 points.

Match 6: Both the countrymates B. Bhaskar and Alok Kumar knowing each other’s skills countered each other neck to neck. Bhaskar and Alok both smashed double century breaks of 267 and 213 respectively and ran parallel throughout the match. In the last Bhaskar managed a break of 209 to defeat Alok with a small margin of 79 points.

Match 7: Recovering from last night’s defeat, Indian champ Pankaj Advani took Nay Thway Oo (Myanmar) on challenge and smashed a break of 325 on his very first visit of the match followed with 99 and 94 breaks subsequently. Already outplayed, Nay tried to make a comeback during the 31st to 36th visits but could not reach 100 points in every visit. At the end Pankaj again crafted a break of 241 to seal the win against Nay Thway Oo by 845 points.

Match 8: After losing in the morning session, Englishman Phil Mumford fell short by 37 points against Indian heavyweight Ashok Shandilya. Ashok crafted 227 on the 25th visit on which Phil tried to counter with two breaks of 101 and 173 in the 42nd and 45th visits but failed to pass Ashok at the end.