Sinha goes down gallantly
By a staff reporter
Former billiards champion T. A. Selvaraj , representing Mysore, had to put his best foot forward to fight off a determined challenge by the Bihar representative S.N. Sinha , at the Great eastern hotel on Tuesday night to win the national Championship quarter – final by the narrow margin of 1,304 points to 1,221 .
For sheer thrills nothing has so far rivaled this match the outcome of which was in doubt until about ten minutes before time was called. The lead changed hands twice with Sinha going ahead early and Selvaraj working up a big advantage by the interval.
Sinha’s great rally enabled him to recapture the lead towards the end but Selvaraj regained leadership with useful breaks which put him on the road to victory. Few players that have been eliminated have been more glorious in defeat than Sinha. Who is another of those players with a bright future in the game. Among his other pursuits in life are music and big game hunting.
Selvaraj proved to the iron man in a crisis but as he himself admitted later he slumped after the interval because of a tendency to rush to the top of the table at the wrong moment. It was only when he reverted to his usual red ball game that he recovered his composure .
Sinha built up a steady lead until the tide began in turn at the 21st visit when Selvaraj made 60. He was still behind . But in the 22nd visit he made 36 to lead by ten points after which breaks of 95 and 100 put him in a very comfortable position.
When the interval came Salvaraj led by 751 points to 514 but throughout second half he could do no more than compile a break of 61. While Sinha gradually reduced the leeway . After the 29th visit of this session Sinha went ahead by four points as a result of a good break of 74 .
The turning point , however , came with about ten minutes to go when Sinha , who seemed set at least for a 50 break , missed an easy cannon off the red near the top rail . In trying to avoid the kiss off the top cushion he applied too much side , missed the cannon and left the red ball hanging over the pocket for Selvaraj to go in and make 41 . Selvaraj then placed the issue beyond doubt when he chalked up 47 in his 36th visit .
BREAKS :-
Selvaraj –60 , 95 , 100 , 64 , 63 and 61 .
Sinha –52 , 57 , 55 , 91 , 52 , 63 , 74 .
JONES MOVES UP
Selvaraj’s opponent in the semi-final will be his old rival and former champion Wilson Jones who had an easy victory over the Ceylon exponent M. H. M. Mujahid by 2,303 points to 904 .
Jones did not appear to be scoring as fluently as he did on the previous day but the opposition , apparently , was too poor for him to approach the table with any particular relish . Nevertheless he repeated his previous performance of scoring two double century breaks .
Shortly , before one hour’s play , Jones , who had already built up a sizable lead completed a break of 129 when he lost the red in baulk . He then led by 549 points to 226 and when the interval came the score was 1,064 to 420 in favour of Jones .His break of 203 came shortly before the interval .
With about 15 minutes to go Jones completed a break of 233 and once again it was a difficult run through cannon near the top rail that foiled him .
BREAKS :-
Jones – 54 , 144 , 50 , 51 , 129 , 101 , 203 , 55 , 123 , 102 , 71 , 135 , 86 , 233 , 52 .
Mujahid – 60 , 58 , 55 .
TODAY’S SNOOKER –
Wilson Jones (Bombay) v A. K. Das (5-30 p.m.) ;
C. Hirjee v Rafiq Dina ( 8 p.m. )
By a staff reporter
Former billiards champion T. A. Selvaraj , representing Mysore, had to put his best foot forward to fight off a determined challenge by the Bihar representative S.N. Sinha , at the Great eastern hotel on Tuesday night to win the national Championship quarter – final by the narrow margin of 1,304 points to 1,221 .
For sheer thrills nothing has so far rivaled this match the outcome of which was in doubt until about ten minutes before time was called. The lead changed hands twice with Sinha going ahead early and Selvaraj working up a big advantage by the interval.
Sinha’s great rally enabled him to recapture the lead towards the end but Selvaraj regained leadership with useful breaks which put him on the road to victory. Few players that have been eliminated have been more glorious in defeat than Sinha. Who is another of those players with a bright future in the game. Among his other pursuits in life are music and big game hunting.
Selvaraj proved to the iron man in a crisis but as he himself admitted later he slumped after the interval because of a tendency to rush to the top of the table at the wrong moment. It was only when he reverted to his usual red ball game that he recovered his composure .
Sinha built up a steady lead until the tide began in turn at the 21st visit when Selvaraj made 60. He was still behind . But in the 22nd visit he made 36 to lead by ten points after which breaks of 95 and 100 put him in a very comfortable position.
When the interval came Salvaraj led by 751 points to 514 but throughout second half he could do no more than compile a break of 61. While Sinha gradually reduced the leeway . After the 29th visit of this session Sinha went ahead by four points as a result of a good break of 74 .
The turning point , however , came with about ten minutes to go when Sinha , who seemed set at least for a 50 break , missed an easy cannon off the red near the top rail . In trying to avoid the kiss off the top cushion he applied too much side , missed the cannon and left the red ball hanging over the pocket for Selvaraj to go in and make 41 . Selvaraj then placed the issue beyond doubt when he chalked up 47 in his 36th visit .
BREAKS :-
Selvaraj –60 , 95 , 100 , 64 , 63 and 61 .
Sinha –52 , 57 , 55 , 91 , 52 , 63 , 74 .
JONES MOVES UP
Selvaraj’s opponent in the semi-final will be his old rival and former champion Wilson Jones who had an easy victory over the Ceylon exponent M. H. M. Mujahid by 2,303 points to 904 .
Jones did not appear to be scoring as fluently as he did on the previous day but the opposition , apparently , was too poor for him to approach the table with any particular relish . Nevertheless he repeated his previous performance of scoring two double century breaks .
Shortly , before one hour’s play , Jones , who had already built up a sizable lead completed a break of 129 when he lost the red in baulk . He then led by 549 points to 226 and when the interval came the score was 1,064 to 420 in favour of Jones .His break of 203 came shortly before the interval .
With about 15 minutes to go Jones completed a break of 233 and once again it was a difficult run through cannon near the top rail that foiled him .
BREAKS :-
Jones – 54 , 144 , 50 , 51 , 129 , 101 , 203 , 55 , 123 , 102 , 71 , 135 , 86 , 233 , 52 .
Mujahid – 60 , 58 , 55 .
TODAY’S SNOOKER –
Wilson Jones (Bombay) v A. K. Das (5-30 p.m.) ;
C. Hirjee v Rafiq Dina ( 8 p.m. )