THE Indian cue sport fraternity toasted the launch of carambole, a new green baize sport in the country. Never mind the uniqueness of the sport, all the big names from billiards and snooker, including Geet Sethi, Ashok Shandilya and Yasin Merchant, participated in the first National carambole championship at Phulwari, Pragati Maidan.
At the end of the three-day championship, not all became experts in finding, at will, the right angles to score cannons. To master the geometry of the carambole table, it will require a lot of practice and patience, and state support.
Dharminder Lilly of Punjab, a natural billiards player, yet again showed his ability to excel at anything new. In 1999, Lilly became the first national pool champion when the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) introduced the sport as a competitive discipline in its itinerary. Carambole was added to the list this year, as the BSFI prepares for the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea.
The final was devoid of any illustrious names such as Sethi, Shandilya or Merchant. But the two finalists, Lilly and Manan Chandra, played an absorbing contest. Lilly's jumbo break of eight cannons, on his 18th visit to the table, was crucial. The masterly-break tilted the balance towards Lilly, but Manan did not give up till he ran out of his stipulated chances. The score was 44-38 in Lilly's favour after 100 visits to the table by each player.
"If Lilly was playing at 10 percent on the first day, he was 70 percent perfect in the final. All this in just three days," Geet Sethi said, summarising the championship.
"My own level has gone up manifold. This (carambole) is an interesting sport, and despite the limited facilities in Delhi, young cueists should take it up seriously as there are three gold medals at stake in the 2002 Asian Games," Sethi said.
The Delhi Billiards and Snooker Association (DBSA), which hosted the championship, has for the first time made available carambole tables and cues, which conform to international standards, for the Indian cueists to practice.
"We have 14 months to prepare for the Games and we must take all the four variations of the cue sport seriously. What Manan, Lilly and (Siddharth) Anand have done here has raised hopes of an Indian medal in carambole," the former World billiards champion, Sethi, said with a special praise for Anand, against whom he lost in the quarterfinals.
"Yasin (Merchant) and I came here for the novelty of the game. I started on a very negative note, but developed interest later on," he said.
For Lilly and Manan, the appearance in the final has ensured their place in the 14-member Indian cue sport team for the 2002 Games. While the BSFI intends to slot them into the carambole team, the junior national snooker champion, Manan, wants to give himself a chance to qualify for his first choice - snooker. If that happens, Delhi's Anand will be the next in line to fill the slot, thanks to his splendid performance till the semifinals.
Lilly, however, prefers carambole. "It will be hard to get into the snooker team as there is a lot of competition. Carom is a new sport and I have developed a liking for it," said the 26-year-old Lilly, who was part of the pool team in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.
"What we now need is a good foreign coach who can guide us. Here, the balls are bigger and heavier and they react differently," Lilly said.
"I have seen Japanese and Korean cueists making consistent breaks for 10 or 11. Considering that, we are much behind them, but we can improve our level with extensive practice," Manan observed.
Practice and patience were the two factors that finally counted the most. The DBSA had arranged a 20-day practice camp for all those who wanted to train before the championship. The Delhi cueists took advantage of it, while the others joined a few days before the championship started.
It was reflected in the performance as seven Delhi players made it to the pre-quarterfinals and three of them advanced to the semis. Siddharth Anand's defeat of Sethi was a classic one. Sethi employed all his skills while Anand, who had upset former World No. 2 Subhash Agrawal of Railways in the second round, looked very confident. After 70 visits by each player, Anand emerged a worthy 29-19 winner.
Giant-killer Anand found the cool and calculated Manan too hot to handle, in the semifinals. Manan scored cannons at regular intervals to open up a 5-0 lead and never allowed that cushion to slip. He won 31-24 despite Anand's late charge.
Lilly and Devendra Joshi of Maharashtra battled it out in the other semi-final and the Punjab cueist's aggressiveness helped him outsmart his opponent 27-20.
Big names had made an exit in the quarterfinals itself. While Sethi lost to Anand, Asian snooker champion, Yasin Merchant was outwitted by Joshi, who won 21-20.
The results:Final: Dharminder Lilly (Pun) beat Manan Chandra (Del) 44-38.
Semifinals: Chandra beat Siddharth Anand (Del) 31-24, Lilly beat Devendra Joshi (Mah) 27-20.
Quarterfinals: Anand beat Geet Sethi (Guj) 29-19, Chandra beat Amit Sharma (Del) 16-15, Lilly beat Shyam Jagtiani (Rlys) 32-17, Joshi beat Yasin Merchant (Mah) 21-20.
Pre-quarterfinals: Sethi beat Varun Taneja (Rlys) 17-11, Anand beat Mukesh Rehani (Del) 17-12, Sharma beat Joy Mehra (Pun) 22-13, Chandra beat Bhupinder Singh (Del) 22-7, Lilly beat Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 12-10, Jagtiani beat Anuj Uppal (Del) 12-11, Merchant beat R. C. Saha (Ben) 16-9, Joshi beat Subhash Sood (Del) 12-10.
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