Keen Competition for Amateur Honours
By a Staff Reporter
The 1958 World Amateur Billiards Championship commences today at the Great Eastern Hotel with a match between India’s champion , Chandra Hirjee and Wilfred Axiak , of Malta . The “break-off†is scheduled for 5 p.m. , and the match will be played in two two-hour sessions .
Not since 1952 when the World Championship was held in Calcutta has there been so much local interest in the game of billiards , more so because the improved standard of India’s representatives , Chandra Hirjee and Wilson Jones , brings them into for the fulfillment of the cherished ambition of the Billiards Association and Control Council of India—to win the world title .
Yet this cherished dream almost became a reality in 1952 when Chandra Hirjee , after his sensational victory over the reigning champion , Bob Marshall of Australia , lost narrowly to the English champion Leslie Driffield in a tense battle of fluctuating fortunes . Driffield eventually winning the championship .
But there is no mistaking the fact that the Indian players will have no match their skill and craft against two of the world’s greatest amateur exponents of the game today—the Australian world title holder , Tom Cleary , and England’s champion , Leslie Driffield .
Tom Cleary is no strange to India . He came to Calcutta in 1950 and lost to Wilson Jones in the semi-final of the National championship . But he was no less popular than his compatriot Bob Marshall , who had come to India earlier . His exploitation of the floating white made him most attractive to watch , this gambit being a little more spectacular than the “postman’s knock†on which Marshall’s game develops .
Cleary’s moment of glory came at Sydney in 1954 when he won the world title . The highlight of this event was his brilliant break of 682 compiled against the South African Tom Reece . This constituted a new World Championship record that beat the former mark of 472 by Kingsley-Kennerly in 1938 . Cleary’s highest break , however is 731 .
Doubtless the English champion Driffield will do his best to repeat his 1952 triumph in Calcutta when he came through unbeaten . Recent performances indicate that Driffield has maintained the form that made him undisputed world champion in 1952 . He has , this year , made 1,174 breaks over the hundred mark and these included one break over 700 , four over 600 and 11 over five hundred .
SKILLED TACTICS
Driffield is well known for his almost perfect match temperament and skilled tactics not be mention his brilliant stroke play . While not discrediting top-table play in 1952 he showed little desire to rush to the spot end of the table but preferred to play a mixed type of game with shrewd calculated efficiency . Whether he has changed this technique has still to be seen .
Of India’s two representatives , Jones has had more international experience . He has represented India thrice in the World Championship and has been on a fairly extensive tour of the Far East . He holds the record of the Highest break in the National Championship –452 .
Internationally Jones holds a distinguished record of victories over some of the World’s Best cueman . In 1949 he defeated England’s Frank Edwards in the semi-final of the National Championship and then accounted for Cleary in the semi-final in the following year when he made a break of 342 . He recently defeated Driffield in the final of the Western India Championship in Bombay and holds a victory over Bob Marshall in an exhibition match .
Chandra Hirjee , who has been Jones’ chief rival in recent years , is one of the fastest and most colourful stroke players in the game today particularly at the top of the table . His greatest triumph came in 1952 when he defeated the reigning world champion Bob Marshall . He finished runner-up to Driffield .
The two remaining contestants Wilfred Axiak (Malta) and Maung Hman (Burma) , have yet to establish themselves on the map of the world billiards but from their national records of themselves . These are the six competitors who will battle it out for world honours in what should prove to be a most interesting and exciting championship . One would have to go a long way to meet a finer bunch of sportsmen .
By a Staff Reporter
The 1958 World Amateur Billiards Championship commences today at the Great Eastern Hotel with a match between India’s champion , Chandra Hirjee and Wilfred Axiak , of Malta . The “break-off†is scheduled for 5 p.m. , and the match will be played in two two-hour sessions .
Not since 1952 when the World Championship was held in Calcutta has there been so much local interest in the game of billiards , more so because the improved standard of India’s representatives , Chandra Hirjee and Wilson Jones , brings them into for the fulfillment of the cherished ambition of the Billiards Association and Control Council of India—to win the world title .
Yet this cherished dream almost became a reality in 1952 when Chandra Hirjee , after his sensational victory over the reigning champion , Bob Marshall of Australia , lost narrowly to the English champion Leslie Driffield in a tense battle of fluctuating fortunes . Driffield eventually winning the championship .
But there is no mistaking the fact that the Indian players will have no match their skill and craft against two of the world’s greatest amateur exponents of the game today—the Australian world title holder , Tom Cleary , and England’s champion , Leslie Driffield .
Tom Cleary is no strange to India . He came to Calcutta in 1950 and lost to Wilson Jones in the semi-final of the National championship . But he was no less popular than his compatriot Bob Marshall , who had come to India earlier . His exploitation of the floating white made him most attractive to watch , this gambit being a little more spectacular than the “postman’s knock†on which Marshall’s game develops .
Cleary’s moment of glory came at Sydney in 1954 when he won the world title . The highlight of this event was his brilliant break of 682 compiled against the South African Tom Reece . This constituted a new World Championship record that beat the former mark of 472 by Kingsley-Kennerly in 1938 . Cleary’s highest break , however is 731 .
Doubtless the English champion Driffield will do his best to repeat his 1952 triumph in Calcutta when he came through unbeaten . Recent performances indicate that Driffield has maintained the form that made him undisputed world champion in 1952 . He has , this year , made 1,174 breaks over the hundred mark and these included one break over 700 , four over 600 and 11 over five hundred .
SKILLED TACTICS
Driffield is well known for his almost perfect match temperament and skilled tactics not be mention his brilliant stroke play . While not discrediting top-table play in 1952 he showed little desire to rush to the spot end of the table but preferred to play a mixed type of game with shrewd calculated efficiency . Whether he has changed this technique has still to be seen .
Of India’s two representatives , Jones has had more international experience . He has represented India thrice in the World Championship and has been on a fairly extensive tour of the Far East . He holds the record of the Highest break in the National Championship –452 .
Internationally Jones holds a distinguished record of victories over some of the World’s Best cueman . In 1949 he defeated England’s Frank Edwards in the semi-final of the National Championship and then accounted for Cleary in the semi-final in the following year when he made a break of 342 . He recently defeated Driffield in the final of the Western India Championship in Bombay and holds a victory over Bob Marshall in an exhibition match .
Chandra Hirjee , who has been Jones’ chief rival in recent years , is one of the fastest and most colourful stroke players in the game today particularly at the top of the table . His greatest triumph came in 1952 when he defeated the reigning world champion Bob Marshall . He finished runner-up to Driffield .
The two remaining contestants Wilfred Axiak (Malta) and Maung Hman (Burma) , have yet to establish themselves on the map of the world billiards but from their national records of themselves . These are the six competitors who will battle it out for world honours in what should prove to be a most interesting and exciting championship . One would have to go a long way to meet a finer bunch of sportsmen .