Gilchrist gets early Parikh jolt

Singaporean beaten in first match; Advani posts three wins on opening day

Favourite Pankaj Advani made a rousing start while compatriot Siddharth Parikh caused the biggest flutter on the opening day of the IBSF World Billiards Championship (long-up format) here on Monday. 

Advani, the defending long-up format champion, posted three polished victories in Group A but it was the little known Parikh who set the tongues wagging at the KSBA Hall, notching up a stunning win over reigning points format champion Peter Gilchrist in his opening Group B encounter.

The 36-year-old Parikh, who after years of mediocrity finally reached his maiden National billiards final earlier this year where he beat Advani in the quarterfinals, rode on his new-found confidence to nudge three-time WPBSA Billiards (Professional) champion Gilchrist 500-483 in a surprisingly patchy affair. Parikh then rounded off his day on a brilliant note, swatting aside Australian Ben Judge 502-163.

Advani too was in blazing form right through the day, vanquishing one opponent after another in a fine exhibition of billiards. Although he hasn't played much of the three-ball game in the recent past, the 31-year-old showed no rust whatsoever as he tamed two dangerous opponents and stamped his authority on a two-time world champion.

He first outclassed Shankar Rao 500-111, then bossed Rupesh Shah 502-262 before dismissing newly crowned IBSF World Snooker champion Soheil Vahedi 502-66 in the blink of eye to prime himself for the top seeding slot for the knock-outs.

While Rao and Vahedi, who started playing billiards just three months ago, weren't expected to test 15-time world champion Advani much, 2007 and 2011 points format world champion Rupesh was tipped to. The encounter, though, lacked the fizz at the start as Advani struggled to find his rhythm while Rupesh huffed and puffed to lead by over a 100 points.

Advani, following some near misses, then began to find his range. He uncorked a 123-point break where he pulled off some superb cannon and in-off shots to draw applause from the motley crowd. Advani missed a red pot to lead 221-183 but the match was still in the balance. Rupesh, however, squandered his chance and Advani then hammered a break of 193 points to swing the match decisively in his favour. He followed it up with a 54-point break before sealing victory with a short visit to the table.

Among other Indians to flourish on the opening day were Asian Billiards champions
Saurav Kothari and Dhruv Sitwala. Both of them gunning for their maiden world title, posted two wins in as many games in their respective groups to make a promising start.
Meanwhile, Gilchrist, one of the favourites, made up for the opening lapse with two fine victories thereafter. Looking jaded against Parikh, the Singaporean, one of best billiards players in the modern era, crushed Judge 501-94. He later faced a tricky customer in Alok Kumar but the 48-year-old had little trouble whatsoever, posting a routine 501-126 victory.

Results: Group A: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Shankar Rao (Ind) 500 (80, 208, 41 unf) – 111 (55); Rupesh Shah (Ind) bt Akhilesh Mohan (Fra) 500 (61, 53, 77, 71) – 143; P Advani bt R Shah 502 (123, 193, 54) - 262 (51, 84); Soheil Vahedi (Iran) bt A Mohan 500 (85, 50) - 301; P Advani bt S Vahedi 502 (155, 126, 130, 76) - 66; R Shah bt S Rao 500 (192, 52, 70, 78, 65) - 68.

Group B: Dhvaj Haria (Ind) bt Ben Judge (Aus) 500 (68, 78) – 136; Siddharth Parikh (Ind) bt Peter Gilchrist (Sing) 500 (147, 69, 56, 53, 55 unf) – 483 (83, 80, 94, 66); P Gilchrist bt B Judge 501 (66, 98, 113, 108) - 94; D Haria bt Alok Kumar (Ind) 501 (106, 88, 65, 88) - 181; P Gilchrist bt A Kumar 501 (116, 187) - 126; S Parikh bt B Judge 502 (97, 81, 95) - 163. 

Group C: Sourav Kothari (Ind) bt Aung Htay (Myn) 502 (65, 72, 60, 78) — 364 (63, 132); Devendra Joshi (Ind) bt Ajeya Prabhakar (US) 501 (63, 118, 99) - 224; Robert Hall (Eng) bt B Bhaskar (Ind) 500 (61, 116, 113, 66) - 287 (118); Aung H bt R Hall 501 (75, 207, 59, 52) - 247 (99); B Bhaskar bt D Joshi 500 (144, 57, 50) - 305 (169); S Kothari bt A Prabhakar 501 (69) - 273.

Group D: Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) bt Chit Ko Ko (Myn) 501 (78, 63, 73, 122) – 321 (53); Jaiveer Dhingra (Ind) bt S Shrikrishna (Ind) 500 (128, 81, 177) – 216 (55, 73); Sitwala bt Dhingra 500 (50, 96, 80, 88) – 353 (67, 89, 119); S Shrikrishna bt Nalin Patel (Eng) 500 (110)–408 (102, 53); C Ko Ko bt Sasan Lashkari (Irn) 502 (64, 96, 95) – 124; N Patel bt S Lashkari 502 (60, 51, 63) - 176.