The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Peter Gilchrist sweeps through to the knock-out stage

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Peter Gilchrist sweeps through to the knock-out stage

Avinash Nair

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

FACILE WIN: Peter Gilchrist had an easy day at the office as he cruised to the knock-out stage on Tuesday.

BANGALORE: Peter Gilchrist with an all win record swept through to the knock-out stage of the ONGC IBSF World billiards championship, into its second day at the KSBA hall here on Tuesday. The gangling Singaporean blanked Vietnam’s Thanh Long Nguyen and ‘old man’ Larry Drennan of Ireland 3-0 in group E.

Also making progress was Thailand’s Praprut Chaithanasakun who prevailed over Thanh Binh Nguyen of Vietnam in five gruelling frames at 77-151, 152-145, 151-86, 128-151, 150-104.

B. Bhaskar quelled countryman and last minute replacement Alok Kumar in a marathon 3-hour 40-minute encounter, even forcing the organisers to shift tables to make way for the next session to commence. That both players are cautious and unrelenting is a known fact. And with neither giving any leeway it was a match that did not attract fans.

Consecutive misses

“I made three consecutive misses from the spot... probably due to a drift or a technical flaw,” said Bhaskar, of the fourth frame. But at 2-2 the switch to the centre table changed the tide in the local lad’s favour. A nervous Alok twice let Bhaskar off the hook.

“I do not know how that miss could have happened,” was all Alok could say when a ‘red’ in-off was missed. Bhaskar gleefully accepted the leeway and wrapped up the remaining 35 points he needed to sew up the match and top group F.

Thawat Sujaritthurakarn humbled Mohd. Asim 150-48, 152-124, 151-109 to remain in contention. Prem Prakash, who in the morning downed Boon Aun Keith (Singapore) 3-0, topped group H when he downed Asim 3-1.

Geet Sethi and Peter Gilchrist were the top two seeds in the revised rankings after the league stage. The two not only remained unbeaten but did not concede a single frame. Eleven Indians out of the 14 figure in the last 16.

The results: League: Group A: Rupesh Shah (Ind) bt Arvind Savur (Ind) 3-0 (150-104, 150(70) - 63, 150(83) – 18); Devendra Joshi (Ind) bt S.M. Shaharwardi (SL) 3-0 (150(71) - 92, 151(63, 73) - 22, 152(71, 63) – 35).

Group B: Suriya Suwannasingh (Thai) bt Calum Hossack (Sco) 3-0 (150-38, 150-36, 152(57) – 36); Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Gary Oliver (NZ) 3-2 (101(96) - 151(54), 151(60 unfinished) - 98, 117(81) - 151, 152(152) - 0, 151(108) - 107 (105)).

Group C: Sourav Kothari (Ind) bt Darren Taylor (NZ) 3-0 (152(127) - 06, 151 - 72, 151 – 65); Praprut Chaithanasakun (Tha) bt Thanh Binh Nguyen (Vie) 3-2 (77 - 151(112), 152(85) - 145(85), 151(84) - 86, 128 - 151(89), 150(81) - 104(53)).

Group D: T.C. Alan Puan (Sing) bt Michael Wright (EBOS) 3-0 (151(52) - 27, 151 - 53, 150 – 72); Geet Sethi (Ind) bt Mohammed Aslam (SL) 3-0 (150 (88) - 69, 151 - 61, 150 (120) – 23).

Group E: Peter Gilchrist (Sin) bt Thanh Long Nguyen (Vie) 3-0 (153 (149) - 11, 151 (54) - 116 (66), 150 (55) – 83); Peter Gilchrist bt Larry Drennan (Ire) 3-0 (154 (154)-18, 152 (86)-105, 150-68); Shyam Jagtiani (Ind) bt Larry Drennan 3-1 (150-71, 150 (115)-26, 121-150, 150-73); Shyam Jagtiani bt Thanh Long Nguyen (Vie) 3-1 (151-33, 150-80, 71-151, 151-147).

Group F: Aidan Murray (Ire) bt Philip Mumford (Eng) 3-1 (48-152, 150 - 50, 150 - 40, 150 – 79); B. Bhaskar (Ind) bt Alok Kumar (Ind) 3 - 2 (96 - 150 (91), 150 (77 unf)- 48, 71 - 150 (96), 150 (77) - 120, 150 (57) – 74); Alok Kumar bt Philip Mumford 3-2 (first frame to Alok as Mumford reported late), 152-62, 121-150, 24-151, 151-76); B. Bhaskar bt Aidan Murray (Ire) 3-0 (150 (89)-118, 152-93, 154 (73)-46).

Group G: Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) bt Raghoo Sinha (Ind) 3-0 (150 - 37, 151 (80) - 10, 150 (79 unf) – 87); Brijesh Damani (Ind) bt Wayne Carey (NZ) 3-0 (151-105, 151 (144)-144, 150-8); Raghhoo Sinha bt Wayne Carey 3-1 (150-45, 118-151, 151-59, 151-74); Dhruv Sitwala bt Brijesh Damani 3-1 (129-150, 150-67, 150-87, 152-2).

Group H: Prem Prakash (Ind) bt Boon Aun Keith (Sing) 3-0 (151 (73) - 28, 150 (59) - 112, 150 (96) – 60); Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thai) bt Md. Asim (Ind) 3-0 (150 - 48, 152 (64) - 124, 151 – 109); Prem Prakash bt Md Asim 3-1 (150-144, 155-44, 141-151, 151-76); Thawat Sujaritthurakarn bt Boon Aun Keith 3-0 (151-38, 151 (99)-107, 151- 32).

The pre-quarterfinal line-up: Geet Sethi v Suriya Suwannasingh; Alok Kumar v Prem Prakash; Praprut Chaithanasakun v Brijesh Damani; Shyam Jagtiani v Devendra Joshi; Dhruv Sitwala v Alan Luan; Rupesh Shah v B. Bhaskar; Pankaj Advani v Thawat Sujaritthurakarn; Sourav Kothari v Peter Gilchrist.

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