It was supposed to be a clash of the titans. It pitted Devendra Joshi against seven-time former national champion Geet Sethi.
MUMBAI: It was supposed to be a clash of the titans. It pitted national billiards champion Devendra Joshi against seven-time former national champion Geet Sethi. The stakes were high. So was the tension. But the end result was a bit of a downer.
Sethi completely overwhelmed Joshi (the final scoreline read 1296-692) in the billiards final of the Rs 4.25 lakh Shivaji Park Gymkhana All India Open Invitation Billiards/Snooker tournament here on Friday. The winner dominated his opponents throughout the week to earn a purse of Rs 40,000.
Unlike some of Geet’s matches earlier this week, there was no drama in the final. The result was a foregone conclusion midway through when the champion led 531-342. Such was Geet’s precision and panache that his opponent’s game disintegrated as the match progressed. It was, simply put, a clinical performance.
The winner had significant breaks throughout (sample some like 118, 139, 212, 167) and finished the match with a final flourish — a break of 300, the highest of the match. Geet’s dominance had restricted space for any error, and when there were some, a shake of head underlined his dejection.
Devendra, in contrast, struggled to have a big break, and by the time he had one (181) it was just too late. That proved to be his undoing. Otherwise, the national champion didn’t play too bad.
He was simply overpowered by an opponent who looked unbeatable on the day. Devendra’s plight was similar to that of Dhruv Sitwala’s a few days earlier — he had to be content being a mere spectator and watch his opponent plot his own defeat.
“He had to take advantage of my mistakes but he couldn’t,” said the winner about his opponent’s frailties. The observation was as accurate as the performance.
Earlier in the day, Geet was just too good for K Venkatesham, winning their semi-final 1312-360, while Devendra did not have to wait for the full duration of his semifinal as his opponent, veteran Ashok Shandilya, conceded the tie in quick time protesting against the lighting arrangement.
Meanwhile, the snooker competition continues on Saturday with Geet Sethi playing two matches back to back.
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