Break Of 324 Highest By Champion
By a Staff ReporterTHE World title holder, Tom Clearly (Australia), Scored an unimpressive victory over Burma’s Maung Hman of 1,895 points to 1,348 in a four-hour session in Tuesday’s World Amateur Billiards Championship match, played at the Great Eastern Hotel.
In a night when clearly had considerable difficulty in manoeuvring the balls to his satisfaction . Big break building did not come easy to him. He struggled throughout the session to find his touch and rarely did he play with anything approaching the confidence of a world champion. He broke down on several simple shots, missing pots, cannons and hazards with inexplicable frequency.
Cleary attributed his poor performance to lack of concentration , as he was suffering from a heavy cold. He expressed the hope that he would fare much better in his other matches in the championship.
Two century breaks and one of the 214 were Cleary’s best achievements in a dull first session. Which ended with the Australian finishing with the poor average of 28.1. His most profitable visit to the table was his first in the second session when he ran up a break of 324. It could literally be described as a great fighting effort for time and again he had to extricate himself from a difficult position. Even at the top of the table, with the balls in position for the floating white strategy, Cleary was never confident the delicacy of touch required for big break building missing from his play.
His poor total was all the more amazing since he had no opposition from the Burmese Maung Hman, who, however, did well in scoring 1,348 points which included four three – figure breaks. Hman lacked the skill to reach the top of the table easily, but whenever left on through a lapse by Cleary he scored fast.
There was never a question of Cleary losing the match. But what was of absorbing interest was Cleary’s battle ti find his touch. Each time he broke down on a promising break there were murmurs of sympathy from a very small crowd.
Breaks :
Cleary – 134, 70, 143, 90, 57, 77, 214, 324, 135, 82, 172.
Hman – 68,58,50,66,127,50,111,104,97, 101.
Today’s Match
First night – Wilson Jones (India0 v Leslie Driffield (England) -5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.