Gilchrist triumphs

NEW DELHI, AUG 23: When four years ago, all billiards sports were brought together and introduced in a new format of Golden Cue championshi...

NEW DELHI, AUG 23: When four years ago, all billiards sports were brought together and introduced in a new format of Golden Cue championship for the first time, it was a Briton 8212; Steve Davis 8212; who won it. In between nothing happened to promote the game until New Delhi became the venue for such an event once again, though the Indian federation had some reservations about it. And this time another man from Great Britain, Peter Gilchrist, was crowned champion of the 1997 Bluestar Golden Cue Championships here today.

Gilchrist was awarded the trophy for his 8220;better overall performance8221;, as tournament director Alan Chamberlin put it, against Japanese Kazuo Fujima, after the finalists were tied on 30 points each at the end of the day. No doubt, Gilchrist thought he deserved the trophy but Fujima was really disappointed.

Fujima paid it back in the same vein when he took on the Briton in carom and pool. Such was the superiority of the two in their favourite games that both garnered the maximum points in them without conceding much to the other.

The world billiards champion won the first frame in snooker 68-39 with a break of 32 on his second visit. On the only visit possible during this frame, Fujima made 39 with a break of 38! But he couldn8217;t do much after that as Gilchrist swept the next two frames with a break of 62 and 66.

Gilchrist seemed to put up some fight in carom, particularly in the first game, when managed three points. But the Japanese, essentially a pool player, proved too good to allow his opponent any concession. In billiards, Gilchrist came into his grove. He made Fujima sit glued to his chair and smoke away his cigarettes while he swept away the frames, making two century breaks. However, Fujima made up for the heavy loss as he showed his prowess in the favourite pool game to win 4-1, 4-2, 4-1.

Results

Snooker: Peter Gilchrist bt Kazuo Fujima 3-0 68-39, 101-0, 76-1.

Carom: Kazuo Fujima bt Peter Gilchrist 3-0 7-3, 7-1, 7-1.

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Billiards: Peter Gilchrist bt Kazuo Fujima 3-0 100-0, 102-2, 100-0;

Pool: Kazuo Fujima bt Peter Gilchrist 3-0 4-1, 4-2, 4-1.