The ONGC-IBSF World Billiards Championship to be played over both, the point-format and the traditional time-format kicks off at the Karnataka State Billiards Association here in Bangalore today with a distinguished and glittering array of cueists from nine countries.

It seems a certainty that Indians will dominate in both the formats considering the rich pedigree and tradition that we have had ever since Wilson Jones won India's first world billiards title in 1956.

Strong contenders

Defending champion of the point format Rupesh Shah, and the defending champion of the time format Bangalore's own Pankaj Advani are joined by Dhruv Sitwala, B Bhaskar, Sourav Kothari and Geet Sethi to form a dominant Indian contingent. Added to this list are a few Indian qualifiers, Devendra Joshi being the most distinguished.

Stiff resistance though can be expected from Peter Gilchrist, the Englishman, who has made Singapore his home three years ago. Gilchrist is a former World Professional Billiards title-holder and is eager to win the IBSF edition.
The points-format to be played over five games of 150 points in the initial league stages and then going up to 7 games upto the quarter finals and then gradually to 11 games in the final will also feature Thailand's Praprut Chaithanasukun, a double gold medalist in the Busan Asian Games in 2002.

Praprut threat

A former Asian snooker champion, Praprut relies heavily on his potting skills but over the years has gradually developed into a purist billiards player. Considering his consistent record in the Point-format in the Asian Games, SEA Games, Asian Indoor Games and the Asian Billiards Championships, he is also expected to provide strong opposition to the Indian contingent.

Philip Mumford, the English Amateur Champion, who has had a good run in the English Billiards Open Series (EBOS) will be the dark horse of the point format event.

The point-format commences today with defending champion Rupesh Shah playing Sri Lanka's No 2 cueist, the time-format defending champion Pankaj Advani facing Scotland's Calum Hossack and yours truly facing Singapore's Alan Puan at 12 noon whilst Peter Gilchrist will take on India's Shyam Jagtiani at 3 pm.