IBSF WORLD BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

17th-26th August 1999 – The Ivy Rooms, Carlow, Republic of Ireland

The Players

Australia
David Collins
John McKay
Joe Millen
Austria
Clemens Kunkel
Franz Mészáros
England
Terry Azor
Paul Bennett
Stephen Crosland
Brian Harvey
Darren Kell
Tony McKinder
David Nichols
Alf Nolan
Gary Rogers
Peter Shelley
Ernest Shorney
Bob Slee
John Smith
Derick Townend
Phillip Welham
Malta
Paul Mifsud
New Zealand
Wayne Carey
Malcolm Cooke
Derek Gibb
Northern Ireland
Tony Buttimer
Sammy Clarke
Sammy Currie
Paddy Donnelly
Jimmy McLaughlin
John McIntyre
Davy Pogue
Republic of Ireland
Dick Brennan
Lee Byrne
Larry Codd
Larry Drennan
Eugene Hughes
Phil Martin
Tommy Martin
Timmy Murphy
Aidan Murray
Anthony O'Flaherty
Victor O'Gorman
Singapore
Chye Hian Soh
Teik Chong Puan
Sri Lanka
K.H. Sirisoma
Thailand
Praprut Chaithanasakun
Udon Khaimuk
Wales
Joseph Bird

An impressive entry of 48 players commenced the Group qualifying
sections of the 1999 IBSF World Championships on Tuesday 17th
August. The tables at the Ivy Rooms in Carlow had been specially
recovered for the event, providing playing conditions which competitors
described as “superb”.

English Champion, Lee Lagan, who had intended to compete,
unfortunately suffered an accident at work and was unable to travel.
The Australian entry was also modified to include John McKay, after
Neil Croft and Joe Minici announced that they would not be making to
trip.

Australian Champion David
Collins made beaks of 252
and 193 in his first match.

Before a ball was struck there were even more changes as English
representative Paul Dunning was forced to withdraw on the eve of the
tournament due to a family illness, and S. M. Shaharwardi of Sri Lanka
failed to appear without explanation. These last-minute vacancies in
the draw gave an unexpected opportunity to John Smith and Bob Slee,
who had arrived purely with the intention of being spectators and now
found themselves drafted into action. Fortunately, both of these English
enthusiasts had brought along their cues in the hope of “a knock”, but
certainly not anticipating being tested against the World’s best amateurs.

For the preliminary stages, players were divided into eight groups of
six, which were roughly arranged to disperse nationalities and players
of known abilities. Matches were round-robin format of 3 hours
duration, with the winner and runner-up in each group progressing to
the knock-out stages. At this point the competitors would be re-seeded
based on their results, and the draw structured accordingly.

Paul Bennett produced some
outstanding performances in
his group matches.

Playing in the first match of their Group, Darren Kell seemed to be in

control for much the time against Dave
Collins, but a late break of 252 followed
by another of 193 by the Australian
Champion were too much for the
English No.3 who finished 218 points
in arrears. This early result effectively
decided the winner and runner-up in
the group as both Collins and Kell then
went on to complete comfortable
victories in their other matches. Tony
Buttimer had the distinction of making
a personal record break of 184 in his
match against Lee Byrne, a feat which
would be achieved by several other
competitors during the course of this
tournament, giving testament to the
excellent playing conditions.

Paul Bennett was in outstanding form throughout his five Group B
matches, winning them all with ease. He put together breaks of 210

and 246 in his first two games against
Victor O’Gorman and Sammy Currie
respectively, and demolished Clemens
Kunkel—running in eight century
breaks in a total of 1,799 points. The
entry of Kunkel, and his Austrian team
mate Franz Mészáros came as surprise
to many who did not realise that any
devotee’s of the English game existed
in that bastion of three-cushion
billiards. Kunkel, who has a highest
practice break of just 47 was
predictably overwhelmed by the talent
on show in this event, but his
appearance as a representative of one
of the lesser-known billiards playing
nations, was nevertheless very
welcome. He returned home with the
consolation of at least a “paper”
victory over Victor O’Gorman, who
was forced to concede his final match
against the Austrian to attend a
doctor´s appointment.

If anyone thought they would have an easy time against John Smith,
who had effectively been drafted in from the audience, they would
soon be disillusioned. In a borrowed waistcoat and bow tie, he first
defeated Malcolm Cooke, then the 1996 Irish Champion Victor
O’Gorman; sailed past Clemens Kunkel, and dismissed the challenge
of the experienced Sammy Currie. Going into his last match against
Paul Bennett, he knew that these four wins were already enough to
qualify from the group, which amongst the many outstanding
performances of these championships, must rank amongst the best.
Although totally out-gunned by Bennett, he still managed to produce a
memorable moment by compiling a break of 103.

Eugene Hughes was the only
professional player to compete.

Eugene Hughes was the only professional player to enter, having
received special dispensation from the general WBA ban. Ranked No.23
in the Professional billiards ranking list, he warmed up for the event by
representing the Republic of Ireland against Wales at snooker; which
was played at the same venue immediately before the billiards. Although
he managed to qualify from Group C, he did not perform as well as
many had expected, his 134 break in the earlier snooker match only
being bettered twice on the billiard table.

Phillip Welham topped the group,
winning all his matches. The most
important of these was a victory over
Hughes by 53 points. Another close
finish came against the veteran Alf
Nolan, who despite advancing years
retains a great enthusiasm for the
game. He also showed that he retains
some of the skills which at one time
ranked him alongside the World’s
billiards elite. Despite his somewhat
eccentric use of the short rest to assist
with his cue action on some shots,
he recorded wins over Joe Millen and
Joe Bird, and was only narrow
defeated by the two qualifiers, Phillip
Welham (69 points) and Eugene
Hughes (35 points).

The lesser-known member of the Thailand team, Udon Khaimuk, turned
in a solid performance to top Group D. This included a personal best
break of 218 in his match against Ernest Shorney—the first time he
had exceeded the double-century in match-play.

The key encounter of the group was Udon’s last game, where he met
Peter Shelley; both players being undefeated to this point. Although
Shelley made the only century of the match (117) he went down by the
narrow margin of 19 points. However, with Shelley picking up his last
game in the round-robin series against Ernest Shorney, he also qualified
from the group as runner-up.

Paul Mifsud : World Amateur
Champion in 1979.

Paul Mifsud had won this competition twenty years ago, and was still

considered good enough to start this
event as one of the favourites. This
status was confirmed as he turned in
some impressive performances to
dominate the group. This included two
double centuries against John
McIntyre, and a repeat performance
against John McKay. In this latter
match, Mifsud established the biggest
aggregate score of the three-hour
games with 1,897.

Stephen Crosland came the closest to
the Maltese champion, but was still
defeated by 181 points. This however,
was his only set-back as Crosland won
all his remaining games to go through
in second place.

Dick Brennan threatened to better his personal match break of 179
when he completed his win over Larry Codd with a run of 160
unfinished.

Paddy Donnelly struck top form
to win Group F.

This group was perhaps the most open
of the tournament, but the player in
form turned out to be Northern Ireland
Champion, Paddy Donnelly. Apart
from Wayne Carey, who he defeated
by the relatively narrow margin of 79
points, he despatched all of his
opponents with some ease.

English National CIU Champion Tony
McKinder, showed flashes of his best
game, producing a break of 238
against Gary Rogers and running in
six centuries against Bob Slee.
However he failed to reproduce this
form at a consistent level, losing to
both Donnelly and Wayne Carey. This

latter defeat ensured that it would be the New Zealand Champion who
took runner-up position in the Group and a place in the last sixteen.

Praprut jetted in from Brunei to
produce some sensational
performances.

Praprut and Udon had arrived from distant Brunei just hours before

the start of the competition. Here they
had been competing in the South East
Asian Games, winning gold medals at
billiards for the singles (Praprut) and
pairs. With every right to feel effected
by “jet-lag” he still produced a good
performance in his first game, when
he overcame Brian Harvey to win by
229 points despite a late break of 226
by the Wessex Champion.

From this point onwards he was
untouchable. In his match against Soh
Chye—another competitor at the SEA
Games—he produced a personal
record break of 369, the first triple
century of the event. He followed this
with another (303) in his next match.
His averages of 56.3 and 60.2 for these
games would have done justice to a
top professional.

David Nichols needed to beat Praprut in his final game to be certain of
going through as runner-up in the Group. Although this may have
seemed a tall order, it began to look like a distinct possibility when
Praprut failed to turn up at the appointed time. The match had been
switched to a 10.00am start and this had apparently not been
communicated to Praprut, who does not speak English. Hurried phone
calls located him and Praprut arrived 27 minutes late—just 3 minutes
before he would have forfeit the match. The drama seemed to have no
effect on Praprut who won by a 775 point margin. Brian Harvey, largely
due to having received the lightest “drubbing” from Praprut, therefore
qualified in second place after finishing level on games won with David
Nichols.

Sirisoma won the closest
game of the tournament, by
just two points.

The two Asian representatives, K. H.
Sirisoma (Sri Lanka) and Teik Chong
Puan (Singapore), proved to be a cut
above their European opposition in
this group. Drawn together early in the
programme of matches, Sirisoma’s
victory, set him on the road to five
consecutive wins.

However, things could easily have
turned out differently as in his next
match against Sammy Clarke he found
himself 74 points in arrears with just
3 minutes remaining. Incredibly, he
ran in an unfinished break of 76 to
snatch a most exciting victory.

Sammy Clarke was again centre of
attention in a later match against Teik
Chong Puan, when, overcome by heat
and fatigue, he was forced to concede
with an hour of the match remaining.

Fortunately he had recovered sufficiently to complete his remaining
fixture against Derick Townend the following day.

The knock-out stages were seeded according to earlier results, with the
group winners arranged one to eight, in order of games won and
aggregate score. The runners-up were seeded 9 to 16 using the same
criteria. On this basis the top four seeds were Bennett, Mifsud, Praprut
and Collins. Highest seed was drawn against lowest.

The only group winners who failed to progress to the quarter-finals
were Phillip Welham and K. Sirisoma who were defeated by Peter
Shelley and Darren Kell respectively. Double century breaks were
produced by David Collins (220), Praprut (247) and Paul Mifsud (214).
Paul Bennett also eased past Brian Harvey to ensure the top four seeds
were represented in the next round.

Bennett started in top gear against Peter Shelley, beginning the first
session with a break of 181 and completing it with a run of 295
unfinished. This was his highest break in competitive play and gave
him an advantage of 650 points at the half-way stage. Bennett, having

left himself with a tricky shot, was unable to add to his break on the
resumption, but still cruised to an impressive win.

There may have been a general expectation of a Bennett-Collins semi-
final, but this was not shared by Paddy Donnelly, who produced another
first-class performance to eliminate the Australian Champion, despite
four century breaks from Collins.

Before this tournament, Praprut´s highest competitive break had been
341. Having earlier recorded a couple of triple centuries, he now
extended his personal best into the fourth century with a run of 415
against team-mate Udon Khaimuk. The Thai No.2 has demonstrated
much improved form over his previous appearance last year in Australia,
but it was insufficient to overcome Praprut who progressed to the semi-
finals. As generally anticipated, he would meet Paul Mifsud, who
proved to be too powerful for Darren Kell.

With the players now on a routine of six hours play each day, it was
perhaps not surprising that neither Bennett or Donnelly reached the
heights they had both achieved in earlier rounds. Bennett established a
lead of 300 points after the first session and thereafter did just enough
to maintain his lead until the end.

Both Praprut and Mifsud on the other hand, seemed to revel in the
conditions. Mifsud started strongly, a break of 221 taking him to a 70
points lead after the first session. But Praprut struck back with breaks
of 315 and 327 to increasingly dominate the game, eventually winning
by over a thousand points; Mifsud falling away as the match progressed.

Praprut displays the “Empire” Trophy with
Sindhu Pulsirivong of the Thai Association,

Praprut began the final well, establishing an advantage of almost 300
points after the first of the two sessions to be played on Wednesday.
However, it was in the second session that Praprut put the match beyond
Bennett´s reach. At his first scoring visit he put together a break of
471, the highest in the competition and another personal best. With his
last visit of the session producing 186 he had established an overnight
lead of 900 points. Bennett battled on to the end, but never looked like
improving his position to any significant degree.

There is no doubt that Praprut
was consistently the top
performer in this
championship and was a
worthy champion. He was the
only player to make a break
in excess of 300, achieving
this feat seven times. His
average over the ten day
event, played on a range of
different tables, was 38.5 for
36 hours match-play. This is
high class billiards by any
standard. Considering these
fine performances, it is
incredible to think that he
only took up billiards two
years ago. His conversion
followed a visit to Thailand
by Peter Gilchrist who gave
him a month´s coaching in the
finer points of the game. It

certainly speaks volumes for the ability of the player—or perhaps the
coach—that it has taken so little time to reach this pinnacle in the
amateur game. Praprut is better known to his green baize fans in
Thailand by his nickname Rom Surin.

In closing, it came as a welcome surprise to the competitors to find
that prize money would be awarded, as this had not been advertised
prior to entry. Praprut took a cheque for IR£1,100 (£957) which
included IR£100 for the highest break. Bennett took IR£500 with cash
being proportionally allocated down to the losing quarter-finalist. All
competitors were given a certificate and the winner and runner-up
also received a cut crystal trophy.