Geet Sethi wins seventh World billiards title

India's Geet Sethi devastated compatriot Ashok Shandilya 3,484-1,289 to claim his seventh World billiards title in the championship finals at the Harnby Workingmen's Club in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Sunday.

In the process, he also eclipsed compatriot Michael Ferreira's average of 246 for a two-hour session, creating a World record average of 248.33 points. Ferreira had established the record 23 years ago.

What makes Sethi's triumph all the more remarkable is that he scored 1,490 points in only six appearances at the table.

The effort included a massive break of 856 - the highest of the 13-day championships. This did not seem to whet his appetite and he recorded another big break of 636 points on his very next visit to the table.

Huge as they might have been, the breaks were nowhere near his career best 1,276 that he recorded on his way to the title in 1992.

"My performance in the final and in the semi-final was as good as any," Sethi told the media after his victory. He recorded as many as 59 century breaks on his way to the summit.

Shandilya was a shade behind at 51.

Geet had faced a tough outing against fellow Indian Devendra Joshi in Saturday's semi-finals. Joshi drew first blood with breaks of 278 and 444 but Sethi responded brilliantly with a break of 551.

After this, the finals were almost a cakewalk as Sethi ran up a lead of 743 in the first round itself. This included an unfinished break of 236. And, by the conclusion of the next round, Sethi had stretched his lead to an almost unbeatable 2,319.

Even so, Sethi is unlikely to rest on his laurels.

"In November, there are two professional tournaments in the U.K., but I am really looking forward to the Asian Games (in Pusan, South Korea, in 2002) where billiards is a medal sport," said.

Indo-Asian News Service