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Final was lacklustre :: Geet

 

Geet Sethi was gracious in defeat in the wake of the defeat at the hands of Mike Russell in the final of the World Professional Billiards Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre at Leeds on Sunday. "It was a bit lacklustre. Russell said it reminded him of the 1998 final at Ahmedabad where after a locustae final I won in the end. Russell is playing well, better than me in general. It was good to play him in the final. He is the best pedigree billiards player we have presently."


Russell's game was honed by practice sessions with earlier champs like Mark Wildman and Jack Karnehm, Russell is the youngest ever winner of a world ranking billiards title at 18. He is the youngest ever world Billiards champion at 20.
Jack Karnehm, a former champ, once said of Russell "Mike would hold his own with the greats of the 1920s and 1930s such as Tom Newman, Willie Smith and perhaps even Joe Davis."


Michael Ferreira, thrice world amateur champ and once World Open champ said: "I would say in terms of results, Mike is the best player post-war. One has to salute him for that. If he had the advantage of more four-hour matches in his early days of professional billiards, one doesn't know what limits he would have reached. If Russell, Geet and I were playing together at our prime, Russell would have won."


Asked for the inevitable comparison with Geet Sethi, Ferreira said: "Russell is a more complete player, having great potting, cue power and self-confidence and extraordinary touch. Geet's finesse is lower than Russell's. The latter's floating white and handling of the baulk-line rule (the hand-ball must cross the line once between every 80 and 100 points). As a `pure' billiards player I would put Russell above any one else," concluded Ferreira, who organized the first few pro events in India.

 

Stats
Mike Russell's world pro titles :: 1989, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008.
Geet Sethi's titles :: 1992,1993,1995,1998,2006.
Russell vs Sethi
Sethi won :: 1992,1993,1998.
Russell won :: 1996,2008.
 

New Delhi - Monday 29 July 2008

 

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