Perhaps the most consistent billiards player in the country, Dhruv Sitwala has been performing exceptionally well both at the national level as well as the world stage. Six finals appearances out of seven events in the last one-and-a-half-years is a testimony to the 36-year-old cueist’s growing consistency.
Earlier this month the ONGC officer suffered the agony of losing in the final of the European Billiards Championship event in Duffel, Belgium despite making the tournament’s best break of 309. Shailendra Awasthi M/i>caught up with him to find out what went wrong and how he plans to turn things around.
Excerpts:
What led to your downfall at the final hurdle yet again?
It was not just another event. It was a very prestigious event and part of the English Billiards Open Series of the European Billiards and Snooker Association where many top stars including India's Geet Sethi and Devendra Joshi were playing. Though I managed the best break of the tournament in the round robin stage, things did not go my way in the final against Martin Goodwill who is the current United Kingdom champion. Apart from that lots of other things affected my chances.
So what are those other factors?
We had flown to the comparatively cooler conditions of Belgium just days after playing in an Invitation Tournament in Bangalore where the temperature was around 32 degrees. It was also a very competitive tournament with the top eight players from the country including Geet Sethi and Pankaj Advani participating in it. When I reached Belgium the tournament had started and I suffered from a bad jet lag. Despite trying my best and reaching the finals, luck did not favour me but it's a part of the game.
... contd.
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