Professional Scene

WORLD MATCH-PLAY BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

3rd – 9th MARCH, 1997

NORWICH SPORT VILLAGE HOTEL, HELLESDON, NORWICH

STRACHAN UK BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

25th FEBRUARY – 22nd MARCH 1997

NORWICH SPORT VILLAGE HOTEL, HELLESDON, NORWICH

Mike Russell banked another £6000 by successfully defending his UK title and easily
beating surprise package Sonic Multani in the final.

The match of the first round was Chapman’s win over”sure to be there one day”
Chris Shutt. Chapman won by 140 points but surprises always attract attention, so what
about Subash Agarwal losing to Steve Naisby, Kumar beating Sethi and Reham’s victory
over Joshi?

More upsets followed, Close going out to Hughes and Williamson then Gilchrist to
Multani.

At the semi-final stage, the bottom half was bound to produce a non-seeded player in
the final – from Kumar and Multani. In the top half, Russell had to get past Chapman, which
he did quite easily.

Russell was looking an odds-on bet against Multani and was out of sight and
uncatchable by the end of the final session.

Some great upsets – too often in short supply at billiards – but in the end a Russell
one-man show.

ENTRANTS COUNTRIES

Shutt, Dix, Sheehan, Russell, Wildman, Hardcastle, Close, Murphy, Chapman, Causier,
Gilchrist, Williamson, Naisby, Everton, Bennett – ENGLAND

Goenka, Multani, Armamath, A. Agarwal. S. Agarwal, Shandilya, Akolkar, Malik, Bhaskar,
Ferreira, Joshi, Rehani, Patel, Kothari, Sethi, Kumar – INDIA

Potikyan – RUSSIA

Sneddon – SCOTLAND

Hughes – IRELAND

Spoormans – BELGIUM

Foldvari – AUSTRALIA

CHIEF BREAKMAKERS

Russell – 526, 494, 456, 450, 428, 364, 319, 6 x 200, 11 x 100

Multani – 437, 239, 4 x 100

Kumar – 8 x 100

Naisby – 237, 4 x 100

Shutt – 292, 2 x 100

Williamson – 263, 100

Chapman – 314, 268, 275, 254, 207, 6 x 100