The Hindu : Sport : White dashes Alok's hopes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 03, 2006

Sport

Sport

White dashes Alok's hopes

Geet Sethi

Prestatyn: An exhausted Alok Kumar's dream of a maiden IBSF World snooker Grand Prix title ended late on Wednesday night as he crashed out 5-8 against Michael White, the 14-year-old from Wales. In the best-of-19 frame final on Friday, White meets Scotland's Mark O' Boyle, who defeated Germany's Lasse Munstermann 8-5.

The 38-year-old bespectacled Indian cueist, who had reached the semifinals with an emphatic 6-1 victory over Gavin Pantall in the quarterfinals on Wednesday morning and a 5-1 win over compatriot Pankaj Advani in the last 16 on Tuesday night, was clearly drained with the non-stop competitive play over the last week.

In contrast, his opponent, who at 14 years has become the youngest cueist to ever reach an IBSF world snooker final, was bustling with energy and more significantly with an inert confidence instilled with the 6-3 quarterfinal victory over seasoned Mohammed Shehab of Dubai.

The glaring difference in the body language between the two cueists at the start of the match itself perhaps revealed the outcome to those interested in sports psychology.

Competent

Cueists who had lost to White earlier in the event all confirmed that it was unnerving to play against a player so young but so very competent both in break building and in the tactical part of the game.

Under the circumstances Kumar did well to clinch the opening frame but trailed 3-1 as the quick-paced and energetic White constructed useful contributions of 45 & 40, displaying a curious blend of aggression and precision, which one normally associates with only two other cueists — the inimitable Jimmy White and the prodigious Ronnie O' Sullivan.

The 2005 Indian snooker champion's greatest strength is his attitude. He is one of the few international sportsmen who is driven by a burning and intense dislike of losing. It is for this reason that he is the hardest man to beat irrespective of his form.

Evidence of this quality was given against Advani in the last 16 when he clinched a frame after laying three snookers. But something in the inner recesses of his mind gave way on Wednesday night as he slumped to a 6-2 deficit against a cueist who is so young that he will not be allowed to join the professional circuit if he wins this title as there is a minimum age requirement of 16 years in the U.K. to become a professional sportsperson.

Turning point

The turning point of the contest came in the sixth frame which Kumar could have won had he not over-cut the blue ball into the centre pocket. The scores could have been tied at 3-3 had Kumar negotiated the blue but his inability to sink that elusive ball meant that he trailed 4-2.

The mid-match interval provided some relief for Kumar and on the resumption he responded with conviction to win three successive frames with a 65 clearance in the ninth and a 54 in the tenth to reduce his deficit to 6-5.

A mid-session interval however arrested his momentum and rhythm and White won the crucial 12th frame 63-32 and the last frame 60-13 to emerge the worthy winner.

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