The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : No cakewalk for Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 21, 2004

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

No cakewalk for Advani

By Michael Ferreira

VELDHOVEN (HOLLAND), NOV. 20. With 88 players from 40 countries in the fray, the 2005 IBSF World snooker championship promises to be the most competitive ever. Twenty-two tables in good condition have been set up in the magnificent venue at the NH Koningshof Hotel and if the comfortable pockets are anything to go by, the fans here will be treated to a series of massive breaks.

It would be idle to pretend that retaining the world title will be a piece of cake for young Pankaj Advani. Ever since climbing the summit of snooker last year in China, he has had a loss of confidence, losing earlier than he should have in several events in India. He did reach the Asian championship final in Jordan in July, but fared poorly in Ireland three months ago in the Under-21 World championship.

It appears that he has been weighed down by the tag of being the world champion and has lost the free and joyous approach to the game that so characterized his play in China. He is a sensible and mature young man and I am confident that if he lightens up he should do well and perhaps even surprise many in the international snooker community.

Manan, one to watch

Of the other Indian hopefuls, I would rate Manan Chandra as the one to watch. He had lost the plot a bit over the last couple of years, but his performances in the recent past suggest that he is primed to fulfil the enormous potential he exhibited when he reached the world under-21 championship a few years ago.

Manan finds himself in a group that includes David Lilley (Eng) a very formidable opponent on his day, Wael Talat of Egypt, and the vastly improved Malaysian Moh Keen Ho, but should make to the knockout stages without too much trouble.

Veteran war-horse Alok Kumar has been placed in one of the toughest groups on paper, and will have to battle with players of the calibre of 2001 world champion Steve Mifsud, Karan Chand the host country's only pro player, Joe Meara (N Ireland) and Habib Subah, the Qatari who bounced Yasin Merchant out of the 2004 Asian championship quarterfinal.

For Rafat Habib, gold medallist in the last Asian Games, this event will be a further learning experience. He is placed in a relatively easy group, with former Asian runner-up Keith Boon as the most serious opposition and reaching the last 32 will be a huge boost to his confidence.

It will also be interesting to see how Geet Sethi and B V S Murthy will fare in the World senior (over 40) championship. With former top 16 professionals like Dene O'Kane and Eugene Hughes keen on having a go in this new event, to say nothing of doughty snooker competitor Robbie Foldvari, their work will be cut out.

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