The Hindu : Sport : Siddharth stuns Geet Sethi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006

Sport

Sport

Siddharth stuns Geet Sethi

S.R. Suryanarayan

A stroll in the park for other top stars

CHENNAI: It was time for the seniors to take the centre stage and the billiards group league started on a memorable note for the Central Railway employee and more importantly qualifier, Siddharth Parikh, when he beat renowned Geet Sethi in a Group C match on Monday in the LIC-BSNL National billiards and snooker championship.

Never having played Geet in billiards earlier but having lost to him in snooker, Siddharth was diffident initially. Apart from the pressure of having to perform, he had to confront the public adulation for the former world and National champion.

To Siddharth's discomfiture Geet started with a bang, a century break (104) in his very first visit. The delicate touch and the intricate shots he came up with had immediate response from the small gathering around.

But just as he started so was his sudden loss of rhythm. None was inspired more than Siddharth as he came up with consistent breaks of over 50 (six in all).

With his first break of 65 he got past Geet and from there on he clung on, watching desperately at times as his famed rival closed in.

In the end, it was a race against time for Geet, with a leeway that had become too wide. This is only the first match in the league and Geet can still recover, but for Siddharth it was a dream start.

Facile wins

The setting was enriched by the presence of several former National champions on other tables. Barring Geeth, none others had difficulty.

The groupings: Senior billiards: Group A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB), Shakeel Ahmed (WB), Kamal Rohmetra (J&K), A. Elango (TN), Raunaq Vazirani (Guj), Brijesh Damani (WB).

Group B: Devandra Joshi (PSPB), Arvind Savur (Kar), Nitin Agarwal (MP), Aditya Goenka (WB), Yogesh Rai (Rly), Manna Chandra (PSPB).

Group C: Geet Sethi (Guj), Yasin Merchant (Mah), Raghu Sinha (UP), S. Das (Ors), Sourav Kothari (PSPB), Siddharth Parikh (Rly).

Group D: Ashok Shandilya (Rly), Nitin Kohli (UP), D. Lily (Pun), Balanand Sinha (Bih), Mikhi Bhargan (Raj), R. Prabhakar (Rly).

Group E: B. Bhaskar (Kar), K. Venkatesham (Rly), Ajay Rehani (Del), Nadeem Ahmed (TN), Rafath Habib (Rly), I.S. Malik (UP).

Group F: Alok Kumar (PSPB), Prem Prakash (TN), L. Durga Prasad (AP), A.M. Lal (Del), S.A. Saleem (TN), Antim Singhi (Rly).

Group G: Dhrun Sitwala (PSPB), Mohd. Asim (Rly), Neeraj Kumar (Bih), I.V. Rajiv (AP), Jaideep Manocha (J&K), V. Subramaniam (Mah).

Group H: Rupesh Shah (Guj), Arun Agarwal (Mah), Hasan Haque (Ors), Harish Gandhi (MP), B.K. Sharma (Pun), M.C. Manoj (TN).

Qualifiers: senior snooker: Sarang Shroff (Mah), Siddharth Parikh (Rly), Arvind Savur (Kar), Shak Ahmed (WB), Prem Prakash (TN), Lucky Vatnani (AP), Antim Singhi (Rly), S.A. Faheem (TN), Shravan Mohta (Mah), Kamal Chawla (Rly), A. Yatheendararaj (TN), Prabhat (Kar), S. Das (Ors), Sandeep Gulati (Del), M.C. Manoj (TN), K. Someswara Rao (AP), Sidharth Rao (TN).

The results: senior billiards league: Gr A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Brijesh Damani (WB) 724-323; Shakeel Ahmed (WB) bt Raunaq Vazirani (Guj) 349-207; Arvind Svur (Kar) bt Yogesh Raj (Rlys) 454-441; Gr C: Siddharth Parikh (Rly) bt Geet Sethi (Guj) 440-384; S. Das (Ors) bt Raghu Sinha (UP) 382-337; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Yasin Merchant (Mah) 623-276; Gr D: Ashok Shandilya (Rly) bt R. Prabhakar (Rly) 574-215; Gr E: K. Ventakesham (Rly) bt Rafath Habib (Rly) 511-318; B. Bhaskar (Kar) bt I.S. Malik (UP) 541-240; Gr F: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Antim Singhi (Rly) 561-301; Prem Prakash (Tn) bt S.A. Saleem (TN) 589-267; Gr G: Dhrun Sitwala (PSPB) bt V. Subramaniam (Mah) 454-207; Gr H: Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt M.C. Manoj (TN) 394-369; Arun Agarwal (Mah) bt B.K. Sharma (Pun) 668-112.