Alok and Joshi advanced to Knockout (Billiards)

03 April 2012

Promising 16 year old cueist from Pakistan, Hunain displayed good snooker skills along with a fine temperament to outwit Lalit Dahiya of India by 4 frames to 3 in a ‘cliff-hanger’ on day two of the 13^th ONGC Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship here at the Clube Tennis De Gaspar Dias, Miramar, Goa. The scores in favour of the winner were (68-33, 08-83(73), 26-59, 68-59, 71(54)-09, 44-55, 86-61). It was the most absorbing match of the morning session even as both the cueists shared the opening two frames. The first was won by Hunain, Lalit, however, rallied brilliantly in the second with a break of 73 to make frame score one-all.

In the scrappy third frame, Lalit managed to gain a slender lead of 2-1 frames when he, keeping his nerve on vital moments pocketing the frame. Continuing, in the same vein, Lalit should have won the fourth too, when at the pink stage of the colours, having already taken the blue, he missed a simple pink allowing the Pakistani to take the frame and level scores 2-all.

Emboldened by this sudden luck, Hunain notched up break of 5 to wrest the fifth frame to gain ascendancy. The sixth frame was the most tantalizing one, Lalit clinching the issue on the deciding black ball.

The final frame of the match was even more well contested. Lalit was the one who took the lead by chalking up a break of 57, which actually should have continued further, but for the ‘in-off’ which terminated this good effort. Capitalizing on the chance, Hunain showed that he also has good nerves along with the skills of snooker when he came back strongly with a break of 53. The match was evenly poised at this stage. Never the less, the Pakistani potted the crucial blue and pink balls to clinch the frame and match.

Not with standing the loss of Lalit’s encounter, India had the satisfaction of obtaining positive results from both the Laxmans on other tables.

Laxman Rawat combining his potting skills with some intelligent safety play outplayed Chan Ming Tung (Hong Kong) 4 frames to 1 in a match in which the result was never in doubt. On the other hand M.L. Laxman gave a 4 frames to 1 drubbing to Aloysius Yapp (Singapore). Some of the ‘touch pots of Laxman were a treat to watch.

In the 11^th ONGC Asian Billiards Championship 2012, former World Champion, Pankaj Advani was right on cue in his match with Chew Kok Hwa Ricky (Singapore) handing him a 4-0 games defeat. Pankaj taking some time to settle into his usual rhythm prevailed over the Singaporean to gain the early advantage. And once he had done that, Pankaj was on song. Executing the strokes in a fluent manner, be it the spot potting, the standard long ‘in-offs’ or the close cannons on the top of the table, in the process of compiling a flaw-less unbeaten century break to go ahead by 2 games to NIL. Chew Kok subsequently tried his best to offer some resistance but he was too inconsistent with the result that Pankaj had no difficulty in closing the match by taking the 3^rd and 4^th games.

After the match, one thing was very evident that even though he has won seven world titles, Pankaj is still a willing pupil, humble in disposition and amenable to learn the finer nuances of the game of billiards exemplified by the session which followed the match, given by National Coach, Mr. Manoj Kothari. Pankaj was at pains to perfect his short comings which were evident during his latest outing.

In the late evening session, defending champion, Alok Kumar, who some how has the knack of contriving situations where he seems to deliberately put himself in pressure situation, time and again is a proven fact that the most versatile Indian cueist, Alok thrives under pressure was once again proved as in his match with the Vietnamese  player Nguyen Thanh Binh. On mere run of play Alok just managed to bag the first game only to find Nguyen clawing back into the match by resting the second game to make the score 1-1. A forced break was a very good reprieve for Alok.

With Nguyen offering some easy chances, Alok made full use of opportunity to make a break of 67 and take the frame for 2-1 lead. Following it Alok who by now, had settled into his usual rhythm was in full flow in the fourth game with a majestic unbeaten century, a break of 101 to widen the gap by 3-1. The fifth saw Alok brining out another well constructed break of 67 to pocket the frame and match.

On another table, ‘Indian Touch Artiste’ Devendra Joshi displaying an immaculate cue-delivery and the perfect rhythm to match was just too good for A. Jeyarathne (Sri Lanka). Even though the Sri Lankan cueist is not a cueist, who can be just disposed off, Joshi being in total command hardly gave a chance to an otherwise near competent player, A. Jeyarathne as he ran away 4 games to nil victor in the space of just 40 minutes.

With the end of the proceedings on the second day of the Billiards event, one can safely say that Alok Kumar and Devendra Joshi are through into the knockout Quarter Finals stage which is scheduled to begin on the 6^th instant.