Pune:
Geet Sethi won both of his encounters as the Indian cueists came from behind to edge past Rest of the World 3-2 to lift the Manisha Billiards Challenge Cup here on Wednesday.
The friendly tie was played in the 100-up format on the sidelines of the IBSF World Billiards Championship at the PYC Hindu Gymkahana.
Indian team had Geet, Pankaj Advani, Devendra Joshi and Ashok Shandilya while ROW team was represented by Mike Russell (England), Peter Gilchrist (Singapore), Praput Chaithanasakun (Thailand) and Kyaw Oo (Myanmar).
The first game saw newly crowned IBSF Point-format champion Russell thrashing Advani with a clearance of 101-02.
Russell had defeated Advani in the final of the Point-format on Monday.
In the second game, Geet made Gilchrist a mere spectator as on his very first shot, eight-time world champion Indian smashed a break of 101 to level the series.
The third game was doubles, which was played between Devendra/Shandilya from India and Praput/Kyaw Oo from ROW.
This was played on an alternate shot basis between team mates. Devendra missed a run-through in-off chance which allowed team ROW to score a win and lead the proceedings 2-1.
The fourth game was between arch rivals Geet and Russell. Geet played fantastic in the entertaining atmosphere but fumbled at a score of 71.
Russell without wasting the chance started scoring and was looking to hand over a sure defeat to the Indian camp, when on a score of 64 he tried to hit a thick red pot to get on perfect position but stuck on the jaw and Geet cleared the game by scoring the remaining 29 points.
With the match poised even, Advani took on Gilchrist. This time again Singaporean was reduced from a serious bench tactician to a mere spectator by the Bangalore-boy as he smashed a flawless break of 100 to clinch the issue.
India lifted the prestigious 'Manisha Cup' and a prize money of Rs 1,00,000 offered by Rajan Khinvsara, the Vice President of the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India.
Results:
Game 1: Mike Russell defeated Pankaj Advani: 101-02
Game 2: Geet Sethi defeated Peter Gilchrist: 101-00
Game 3: Praput C/Kyaw Oo defeated D Joshi/A Shandilya: 101-48
Game 4: Geet Sethi defeated Mike Russell: 101-64
Game 5: Pankaj Advani defeated Peter Gilchrist: 100-02.