Sethi, Patel fail to make semis

Dwayne Williams

The world billiards jamboree ended prematurely for Indian cueists. The last two home hopes -- world No. 2 Geet Sethi and no. 8 Nalin Patel -- tripped in quite similar fashion at the quarter-final stage of the Mega Ace World profesional billiards championships 2001 at the Cricket Club of India, in Bombay, on Friday.

While Patel was comprehensively beaten by world No. 3 Peter Gilchrist, Sethi was stunned by world no. 6 Robbie Foldvari much to the disappointment of a goodly crowd that had turned up in anticipation of at least one Indian staying in the fray.

They may have got that wish. But Sethi, bogged down for most part more by his awful form, lost a late but stupendous race against the clock.

Behind by 204 points and with less that a dozen seconds left for the buzzer, Sethi seemed to have suddenly woken up from his slumber. His cueing arm, seemingly loaded with lead earlier on, turned swift and slick. He was literally running around the table, piling the points with ease and elan.

But with three minutes remaining and a mere 40 points still to be wiped out, Sethi broke down when attempting a masse cannon. That 159 was a terrific effort. But the crowd badly wanted him to clear the deficit.

Foldvari wasted a full minute and a half choosing the type of rest he needed and attempting a screwback cannon which he missed. Sethi had only a minute and a half and he was at it again with all the zip he could muster. But alas! it was not to be. The clock stopped him when he was just 14 short of the target.

Sethi has only himself to blame. He was unable to show consistency in the first two-hour session, blowing a number of chances which could have seen him open up a substantial lead by the end of the first half. In the second session, his form detiorated further which allowed the Aussie to slowly go further in front.

Nalin Patel also was plagued by mistakes in the first session every time he looked set for a big three-figure breaks. And in the second, he, too, played so badly that his opponent pulled away on a couple of big breaks. And when Nalin did touch something close to wonted form late in the match, Gilchrist had already steered well out of reach.

Results (quarter-finals):
Peter Gilchrist 1359 (188, 81, 89, 61, 124, 298, 87 ) beat Nalin Patel 942 (66, 152, 73, 92, 57, 71, 87); Robbie Foldvari 779 (207, 81, 58, 128) beat Geet Sethi 765 (70, 97, 92, 56, 77, 159).