The Indian campaign at the IBSF World billiards championship came to an end as Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani failed to overcome their rivals, Peter Gilchrist and Mike Russell respectively, in the semifinals here on Friday.
In the four-hour semifinals, played in two sessions at the PYC Gymkhana tables on Friday, Sethi went down fighting to Gilchrist 1668-1022, while Advani lost to Russell 1417-1300.
England-born Gilchrist, who represents Singapore, made his maiden entry in the final, while Englishman Russell reached the summit clash for the 16th time. He has won the title nine times.
It was the cannons which kept the Indians out of the championship. Sethi was going strong on 143-break when he tried a close cannon but his gentle touch on the white was just not enough.
Later Advani, who was trailing by 426 points, was cruising at 180 points when he attempted a thincannon which the referee failed to notice. “I thought it was a cannon, but the referee did not agree with it,” said Advani. “I think the referee turned his head away and then I did see the ball move. If technology were to be used, it would have made a big difference,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Sethi blamed it on the close cannon miss. “That was the turning point,” was Sethi’s first reaction. But the former champion did give credit to his rival Gilchrist. “He played well, and positioned the ball well before big breaks,” said Sethi about the first session, when Gilchrist was trailing by 387 points.
But his unfinished break of 597 in the last session of the first two hours enabled Glichrist to go past Sethi’s 557. When he came back for the last session, Gilchrist managed just 13 points for his 610 break, the highest of the day. Sethi came up with a 103 break to reduce the lead, but Gilchrist smashed 247.
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