WORLD PROFESSIONAL BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

C. K. Nayudu Hall, The Cricket Club, Mumbai, India

11th – 15th April 2001

The
Players

Australia
Robby Foldvari
England
Paul Bennett
David Causier
Roxton Chapman
Peter Gilchrist
Mike Russell
Peter Sheehan
Chris Shutt
Ian Williamson
India
Subhash Agrawal
Devendra Joshi
Alok Kumar
Nalin Patel
Geet Sethi
Ashok Shandilya
Dhruv Sitwala

Following the withdrawal of original sponsors, Zee TV, a late
replacement was found in Mega Ace who are involved in a wide
range of business activities in India and have for the last five years been
sponsors of the Om Agrawal Billiards Championship. They were
persuaded to convert this invitation tournament at the Cricket Club
into a full World Championship and the format developed for last
year’s aborted Championship was brought quickly into action. This
involved seeding the top eight players through to the competition proper
with the rest having to qualify for the remaining eight places. (Qualifying
competition details are given on page 16). The 50-up games which had
been so popular at the start of the season, were discarded, and fourhour
matches reintroduced—although the first round was restricted to
two hours in order to complete the event within the allocated five days.
As a bonus, matches from the semi-final stage were given live television
coverage by the Doordshan TV network. The new sponsors were
certainly most welcome for the professional players who, after a
turbulent season, were facing the prospect of another year without
their premier event.

None of the qualifiers managed to survive the first round against their
seeded opponents, although Ashok Shandilya gave Mike Russell a
scare. Their´s was the opening match of the competition, which due to
the tight schedule, commenced at the unusually early hour of 8.00am!
Perhaps this early start did not suit Russell as much as Shandillya, the
No.10 ranked Indian dominating the early exchanges and forcing Russell
to pull out all the stops to catch and overtake him. A late break of 187
by Russell eventually saw him home, but it was a nervous performance
from the Champion, who admitted afterwards to have been “shaking
like a leaf”.

Neither Roxton Chapman nor Ian Williamson looked to be at ease in
their encounter, Chapman gradually building up a winning position
with a series of small breaks. Finding some late form, Williamson put
together the only two centuries of the match with 152 and 111 unfinished.
Made at an unusually rapid pace, these came too late to affect the
result.

Michael Ferreira, in introducing Chris Shutt to the audience, described
him as the “World Cup winner” by way of reference to his recent
victory in the IBSF World Open Championship. Presumably, as
Tournament Director, he was reluctant to highlight the current situation
of two World Championships for professional players in the presence
of the new sponsors. The “World Cup winner” was however in
disappointing form, and his opponent Alok Kumar contributed even
less to a lack-lustre match. Although Shutt managed a top break of 168
in a 728-529 victory this was the only century and he could average just
14.3, the lowest winning average of the first round.

Peter Sheehan had a 368-241 advantage half-way through his match
against David Causier, but the fourth seed rallied strongly towards the
end and with breaks of 98 and 123 converted this deficit to a 63 point
victory.

The prospect of a match between Peter Gilchrist and Paul Bennett did
not seem to appeal to the Mumbai locals and they played out their
game in an almost deserted arena. The tip of Peter Gilchrist’s cue had
worn down so much prior to the Championship that he had removed it
and arrived in India without any tip on his cue at all. Compelled to fix
one just before his first match, he would experience tip problems
throughout the championship. To add to his troubles, he had needed to
borrow some clothes from Chris Shutt after his own baggage had been
misdirected by the Airline—it eventually arrived at Mumbai airport on
8th May! With all of these disruptions he would have had plenty of
excuses for an early exit, but he still managed a top break of 172 in a
comfortable 738-336 win.

Nalin Patel was in confident mood having made a break of 536 in
practice a few days before the start of the tournament. However, it was
his opponent, young Dhruv Sitwala who took the initiative, responding

to a 99 by Patel with runs of 70 (twice) and 49 to lead by almost 100
points mid-way through the match. However, Patel then stepped up a
gear and with runs of 143, 89 and 104 finished a comfortable winner by
281.

Robby Foldvari, who is now running the Australasian Cue Sport
Academy, was not tested by Subhash Agrawal, who could only manage
a top break of 21 in two hours play. Without producing anything
special, the Australian cruised to an easy 520-169 victory.
Geet Sethi, who admitted to having rather neglected his practise of late,
attributes this, as much as anything, to his drop in form over the past
couple of seasons. However, he seemed to be approaching this
tournament with renewed enthusiasm, reportedly putting in four to
five hours a day on the practice table in advance of the event. This
certainly seemed to be paying off as he opened his match against
Devendra Joshi with a superb all-round 239 at his third visit to the
table. Adding two identical contributions of 42, he took his score to
365-12 and looked to be cruising to an easy win. But Joshi, the newly
crowned Indian Champion, never gave up the chase, his reply highlighted
by a break of 169 towards the end. Even though his spirited performance
gave Sethi some anxious moments, he could never quite close the gap,
and Sethi scraped through by 72 points.

With the matches now extended to four hours, Mike Russell began to
produce the sort of form expected of him as he reached the interval of
his game against Roxton Chapman with an unfinished run of 301. He
had quite a wait before he could continue—the first session of the
Causier/Shutt match being completed on the table before the start of
the second session. Returning some three hours later could have done
little for his concentration and Russell added only another 15 points
before the break ended with a missed pot-red at 316. It was nevertheless
the first triple century of the Championship and opened a gap of 425
points. When Russell added 211 soon afterwards the match ceased to
be a contest and although Chapman made second session breaks of 175
and 180, he could make no further impression on the Champion,
eventually losing 1543-758. Russell, who averaged 46.8 for the match,
was not happy with his cueing and described his performance as
“rubbish”.

David Causier was confident that he could win his first World
Championship and progressed to the semi-final with a comprehensive
victory over his great rival Chris Shutt. The match was effectively won
in the first session as Causier piled in a string of big breaks to lead 1157-
384 after two hours. The second session saw Shutt eventually get into
his stride with breaks of 131 and 271, but Causier was more than equal
to the challenge producing no less than three double centuries (217, 216
and 211) and with additional runs of 119, 115 and 85 finished with an
impressive aggregate of 2,327 after four hours play. This gave him a
comfortable win by 1,181 points and an average over the last two-hour
session of 61.6.

Peter Gilchrist, who had changed his tip again, looked to be in fine form
as the opening exchanges of his match against Nalin Patel saw make an
all-round break of 188 in just 15 minutes! This gave him a useful lead of
188-6, but Patel struck back with breaks of 66, 152 and 73, and
eventually Gilchrist was happy to go into the interval leading 544-520,
helped by efforts of 81 and 76 from two of his last three visits. The
second session however, saw Gilchrist raise his game to another level,
and with breaks of 124 and 298 in quick succession, completely quelled
the challenge of Patel.

Robby Foldvari produced the first upset of the championship when he
put out the No.2 seed Geet Sethi. Sethi looked to be cruising at the start

of the match as he opened up a 258-
75 lead, but the Australian then grafted
out a fine break of 207 and
immediately following this with an 81
went into the interval with a 420-369
lead. With safety play now dominating
and the pace of the match slowing, the
last 30 minutes saw the deadlock
broken when Foldvari increased his
advantage with a 128 break. With less
than 15 minutes remaining Sethi was
still 204 points in arrears, but at this
stage a brisk 159 by the Indian set the
scene for a nail-biting finish. Sethi’s
break ended when a cover forced him

into an unsuccessful massé cannon attempt. This was to prove a costly
miss as Foldvari used up one of the three remaining minutes deciding
which of the various rests and cue extensions he should use for his next
shot. Although Foldvari failed to score, Sethi found himself 45 in arrears
with less than 2 minutes to go. He made a great effort, reducing the
deficit by 31 when the final bell sounded, but it was Foldvari who went
through to the semi-finals.

Mike Russell started his semi-final against David Causier well enough,
putting together breaks of 146 and 78 early in the first session. Even so,
he seemed to be uneasy, unexpectedly breaking down on comparatively
simple shots. It was only when a fine effort of 269 opened up a 400-
point lead that he began to look at ease. Causier however, appearing
undaunted, gave an immediate reply of 112 reflecting his determination
and belief that he could win this match. A break of 65 took Russell into
the interval with the scores standing at 862-503 in his favour and
leaving Causier with an uphill task. Starting the second session, Russell’s
took this unfinished break to 93, but thereafter his touch again seemed
to desert him again as he missed a series of regulation shots. Causier
needed no further invitation and set about closing the gap, rifling in
breaks of 78 and 252 with his first two scoring visits. This latter
contribution, made in his own unique style, containing a series of
breathtaking shots which sent the balls flying around the table. With a
little over an hour to go Russell’s advantage was almost 100 points, still
well within range for Causier. Russell now steeled himself to effectively
crush the chances of an upset by compiling a massive run of 389,
breaking down at a pot red when trying to comply with the baulk-line
rule. Still Causier refuse to give up and breaks of 51, 86 and 117 were
added at a speed which only he is capable. Russell, carefully watching
the clock, countered with a bout of safety leaving Causier just 10
minutes to compile some 300 points. He made a gallant effort with runs
of 91 and 133 unfinished, but it was too much even for him, and Russell
finished the winner by 114 points. The Champion, for once, was pleased
with his performance and felt that he was running into good form in
time for the final.

Although the semi-final between Peter Gilchrist and Robby Foldvari
could not be described as “explosive” in terms of billiards action there
was plenty of drama and another close finish. The match proceeded at
an appallingly slow pace. Gilchrist was evidently still experiencing
problems with another new tip, but he did manage to compile breaks of
182 and 112 in the first session taking him into the interval with a lead

of 139 points. Foldvari had been engaged on an unfinished break of 81
at the interval but did little to further reduce his deficit after the
resumption, his break terminating at 94. However, he then put together
a run of 130 which took him into the lead for the first time in the match,
and adding 98 soon afterwards, was now in front by almost a hundred,
at 751-654. With exactly 30 minutes remaining Gilchrist then produced
a crucial break of 87, and running out of position still 10 points in
arrears, played for safety. Returning to the table he overtook Foldvari’s
score, carefully assessing his shot selection, having the balls cleaned by
the referee and paying close attention to his troublesome tip. Continuing
in this time-consuming way he managed to hold the table with 91
unfinished, winning by an 81 point margin. After the match there was
and exchange of words between Foldvari and Gilchrist regarding what
each believed was time-wasting tactics by the other. Foldvari complaining
about Gilchrist’s trips outside the hall to pay attention to his tip, and
Gilchrist upset that Foldvari decided to wipe his cue “with a big white
towel” in Gilchrist’s line of sight while playing a shot. Asked about his
prospects in the final against Russell, Gilchrist replied “I will have to
improve my game. I have to go down and practise for a couple of
hours”.

Gilchrist had changed his tip before every round and did so again before
the final. However, he seemed to find this one to his satisfaction as he
opened up confidently with breaks of 74 and 285 at his third and fourth
visits. Finding himself over 300 points in arrears, the Champion
responded to the pressure with classy top-of-the-table breaks of 179
and 192 to pull back the deficit. Contributions of 54 and 88 put Gilchrist
back in front, but Russell ran to the interval with 96 unfinished giving
him a narrow 9 point advantage, the scores standing at 540-531. The
two hour session had seen both players complete just eight visits,
averaging 67.5 and 66.4 respectively.

Russell extended his lead slightly by taking his unfinished break to 124
and when Gilchrist replied with 97 Russell’s immediate response was
75. From the opening exchanges it looked as though the second session
would be as close as the first, but from this point Gilchrist took total
command and with breaks of 194, 99, 97, and 50, kept Russell away
from the table for the remainder of the third hour.

Gilchrist’s breaks regularly seemed to end when attempting a late baulk-
line crossing, but even so, he had built up big lead at 1,072-663 with 40
minutes remaining and was keeping up his 60+ average while Russell
struggled to force an opening. With the match having slipped beyond
his reach, Russell did manage to produce runs of 56 and 124 but these
hardly mattered as Gilchrist swept to his second Championship win
with a performance worthy of the occasion.

Gilchrist, whose previous win in the Championship had also been in
Mumbai when the event was staged at the Leela Hotel in 1994, picked
up £12,500 for his troubles. Russell collected £8,500 which included
£1,000 for his high break of 389, made against David Causier.