Geet Sethi wins bronze in billiards singles

India's top-ranked cueist Geet Sethi beat Aung San Oo of Myanmar to win the bronze medal in billiards singles at the Asian Games in Busan on Tuesday.

Sethi had lost to another Kyaw Oo U of Myanmar in the semi-finals yesterday.

Pre-tournament favourite Geet Sethi ended India's campaign in cue sports with a bronze medal from the billiards singles event at the 14th Asian Games in Busan on Tuesday.

Sethi, who won the silver in the last Games in Bangkok, losing to compatriot Ashok Shandilya in the final, wrapped up the third place match in about 25 minutes, beating Aung San Oo of Mayanmar 2-0 over best of three-frames, at the Dongju stadium.

India finished with three medals, including a gold in snooker doubles by Yasin Merchant and Rafath Habib, and a silver by Sethi and Alok Kumar in billiards doubles.

At the last Games in Bangkok, India had won two gold, a silver and a bronze medal in billiards.

Sethi tossed for the match and, after Aung San Oo made 19 in his first visit, played with vision. Sethi's forthright approach helped him to clear the table with an unfinished break of 96.

With the whole Indian team present at the half-packed indoor hall, Sethi's determination in not allowing the match drift into the decider was evident.

Spurred by the quick success in the first frame, Sethi took lesser time in winning the second and the match.

He came up with an unfinished break of 98 in the second frame, denying his rival any chance of a comeback.

However, the former world champion was still disappointed after failing to win the semi-final yesterday.

"I really played well today. At least, I made sure of a medal for our country," Sethi said, trying to hide his disappointment.

Asked whether Ashok Shandiliya's presence in the squad would have made any difference, Sethi said: "Shandilya is a gutsy player. In Bangkok, he collapsed in doubles but in singles he took the challenge out of his skin. He is definitely a fighter."

Before the team left the Indian shores there were allegations of favouritism in the selection of the team for both billiards and snooker but Sethi rubbished these claims.

"It was an unbiased selection for this Games. In this shorter format of the sport, one cannot predict anything," he said.

"The gold haul by Yasin and Rafath enhanced our morale but we failed to take on from their excellent performance, which was also India's first gold medal in this Games," he said.

Summing up the format and competition in the 14th edition of the Games, Sethi said: "Cue sport is growing rapidly in this region. India were the leaders once but we cannot take anyone or anything lightly concerning the sport.

"Compared to the Bangkok Games, where the sport made its debut, there was a stiffer competition in Busan and I am sure the trend will only make India sit up and programme for a systematised training of our youngsters."

Apart from the medal winners, the other members in the squad put up a disappointing performance.

Devendra Joshi, who had won a bronze with B Bhaskar in billiards doubles in Bangkok, failed to cross the first round, while Siddharth Anand did not impress at all, stumbling at the first hurdle in both billiards three cusion singles and carom.

Yasin Merchant lost in eight ball pool singles pre-quarter finals. While Merchant, Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra were eliminated in the pe-quarter-finals of snooker team event, Dharminder Lily crashed out of eight ball pool singles in the pre-quarters.

Lily along with Amit Khansaheb was also ousted in eight ball pool doubles. Mukesh Rehani lost in the quarter-finals in nine-ball pool singles.