The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Alok Kumar is Asian champion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 12, 2004

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Alok Kumar is Asian champion

By Michael Ferreira

AQABA, JUNE 11. In an unprecedented final featuring two Indians for the first time in Asian snooker history, national champion Alok Kumar beat reigning World champion Pankaj Advani 6-3 in the best-of-eleven frames contest. It was a triumph of determination to win at all costs over youthful exuberance and flair.

Alok has been a fine player over the years but his impressive credentials did not include a major international title. This gap has now been filled and the delight on the new champion's face after his typically grim visage throughout the four hour forty-five minute battle of attrition was a sight to behold.

For his young opponent, yet again a victim of the Kumar grinding machine, it was a bitter disappointment and a poignant reminder of the need to be able to come to terms with the frustration of playing against an opponent who is a staunch believer in Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi's famous quote: winning isn't everything, it is the only thing.

On Thursday, the two Indians created history by ensuring that their country would get the gold and silver medals in this high profile event. Alok was particularly brilliant in the semifinal, crushing the dangerous Habib Mahmood of Bahrain without conceding a frame. In the quarterfinal, Habib had comprehensively beaten two-time former Asian champion Yasin Merchant 5-2.

As for Pankaj, he looked like running into his best form when he steamed past Kwok, one of Hong Kong's most competent players, 5-2 in a display that was exemplary for its smoothness and poise under pressure.

Alok takes home a cheque for US$ 2500 plus a further US$ 500 high break prize for his clearance of 117 made in the league phase. Pankaj had to be content with a cheque for US$ 1250.

The first frame bore the stamp of class, as Pankaj opened up with a 45 to draw 49-0 ahead only to have that advantage snuffed out when Alok responded with a 50. A superb clearance to pink, however, secured the frame for the younger man. Pankaj took a 34-0 lead in the second, but Alok hit back with a 41 and after extracting no less than 21 points from a diabolical snooker, wrapped up the frame with a 31 clearance.

A painstaking 38 in the third took the national champion 59-10 ahead with two reds left. Pankaj managed to get one of the two snookers he needed, but a poor safety shot enabled Alok to sink the last red and clear up to blue for a 2-1 lead.

The fourth, the last before the scheduled interval, turned out to be a ordeal for the world champion and spectators alike, as Alok ground his way to a 46-5 lead. With the blue, pink and black all tied up, the chances of a spectacular comeback that makes the game so engrossing were reduced to zero, a situation that suits him down to the ground. Pankaj's frustration as his stony faced opponent was content to pick his way through one ball here and a couple of balls there, rather than go for a break, was plain to see. It came as a relief when the session ended with Alok holding a 3-1 lead.

It was vital for Pankaj to impress his personality on the match in the opening frame of the final session, a fact that was not lost on his crafty rival. Abdicating all responsibility towards the spectators, the game and TV, Alok promptly dropped anchor, crawling to an initial 19-0 lead that wended its tired way in stages to 22-2, 26-2, 27-2, 27-4, 27-6 and 27-12.

Somewhere in between, Pankaj had one promising opportunity but by then his natural fluency and rhythm had been shattered and his contribution terminated at 15. A colours clearance by Alok mercifully brought the frame to an end after 53 minutes of slow torture.

The lead of 4-1 was trimmed when Pankaj fired in runs of 28 and a colours clearance in the sixth, but Alok responded with efforts of 29 and 28 to come to within one frame of the title at 5-2. He looked like heading home with an early 31 in the eighth, but the weary Pankaj's self-respect flickered into life, a break of 46 and a foul on the black extracted from a snooker giving him the frame 68-32. But a 32 in the ninth by Alok was the beginning of the end, an end that was hastened when the demoralised Pankaj missed a blue on the mouth of the pocket. A clinching break of 23, initiated by a stunning long pot red, saw the Indian national champion stand proud as the 2004 Asian champion.

The results: Alok Kumar beat Pankaj Advani 6-3 (50(50)-69(45), 99(41,31)-43, 78-22, 63-9, 81-32, 42-61, 81-26, 32-66(46), 80(32)-9).

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