Geet Sethi

Geet Siriram Sethi (born April 17, 1961)Cite web
title=Geet Sethi Profile
url= http://www.iloveindia.com/sports/billiards/players/geetsethi.html
pages="Sport in India" section
work=ILoveIndia.com
date=no date specified
accessdate=2007-11-30] of India is a semi-professional player of English billiards who dominated the sport throughout much of the 1990s, and a notable amateur snooker player. He is a six-time winner of the professional-level and a three-time winner of the amateur World Championships, and holder of two world records, in English billiards.Cite web
title=Geet Sethi crowned World Billiards Champion for the 8th Time!
url= http://www.tnq.in/GS_newstory.html
work=TNQ.in
publisher=TNQ Sponsorship (India) Pvt. Ltd.
date=2006
accessdate=2007-11-30]

Career

Born in New Delhi and growing up in Ahmedabad, Sethi won his first major English billiards event in 1982, the Indian National Billiards Championship (an international event despite its name), defeating Michael Ferreira, and later went on to win the NBC again four years in a row, 1985–1988, and made a comeback in both 1997 and 1998 to reclaim the title.Cite web
title=Geet Sethi Page
url= http://www.tnq.in/geetsethi.html
work=TNQ.in
publisher=TNQ Sponsorship (India) Pvt. Ltd.
date=1998
accessdate=2007-11-30]

He rose to international prominence by winning the IBSF World Amateur Billiards Championships in 1985, versus Bob Marshall in an eight-hour-long final round. In 1987, he again won the IBSF event, as well as the Asian Billiards ChampionshipClarifyme|date=March 2008 He won another World Amateur Billiards title 2001, despite having previously played as a pro by that date.

Sethi also took the Indian National Snooker Championships four times back to back, in the same 1985–1988 span as his national English billiards streak. In the 1989 event, held at Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, though he did not take the title, he did achieve the world's first amateur maximum break of 147 in official competition."Guinness Book of World Records"Clarifyme|date=March 2008 ] (Unfortunately there is no footage of the accomplishment, because the Doordarshan camera crew covering the event had stepped out for a tea break while he was shooting.)Fact|date=December 2007 He has never placed in the top snooker world rankings, however.

In the 1992 World Professional Billiards Championship, Sethi constructed a world-record English billiards Cuegloss|Break|break of 1276 under the three-pot rule (a world record, also the highest break in five decades) and won first place. He went on to win the title again in 1993, 1995, 1998, and 2006.

In the 2006 event, in Prestatyn, Wales, he defeated David Causier in the quarter final, and defending World Pro Champion Chris Shutt in the semi-final. He won the title round 2073–1057 (average per Cuegloss|Inning|inning 34.3 vs. 17.0) in a timed five-hour final against Lee Lagan (who had previously beaten him 6 Cuegloss|Frame|frames to 5 at the untimed 2003 IBSF Amateur World Championship). After running two Cuegloss|Century|centuries in the first hour, Sethi led by 150, increased this to 427 with two more centuries by the end of the first of the two Cuegloss|Session|sessions, and followed it up with a Cuegloss|Double century|double century of 238 Cuegloss|Point|points; meanwhile Langan only managed two centuries in the first session and one in the second.. When the Cuegloss|Match|match time ran out, Sethi had just reached a double century again, at 206, and had been poised to continue the break.

He has been described as an "arch-rival" of Mike Russell of England, also an eight-time English billiards World Champion, and each of them had defeated the other for the title, with Russell victorious in 1996, and Sethi the winner in 1998, as of their next encounter at the 2007 event. They both scored two triple centuries apiece in the semi-finals, but Russell kocked Sethi out of the running, 1835–1231 (65.5 vs. 45.6 average); Russell eventually won the title, for his ninth World crown.Cite web
title=2007 World Professional Billiards Championship
pages="Tournaments" section
work=EABAonline
url= http://www.eaba.co.uk/tournaments/2006-07/worldProfessional2007.html
publisher=English Amateur Billiards Association
year=2007
accessdate=2007-12-01]

Sethi won gold and silverFact|date=December 2007 medals in eventsClarifyme|subst|DATE|date=March 2008 at the 13th Asian Games (1998, Bangkok, Thailand), and competed in the 14th AG (2002, Busan, South Korea).Clarifyme|date=December 2007 At the 15th AG (2006, Doha, Quatar), he took bronze medals in English billiards (both men's singles and, with Ashok Shandilya, doubles).

He has announced plans to compete in the Olympic Games for India when cue sports are finally admitted as Olympic sports (long in-progress between the World Confederation of Billiard Sports and the International Olympic Committee).

Sethi's professional management agents, TNQ Sponsorship, comment that he "has been focussing^"sic" on the sport with renewed enthusiasm" and "seems to be peaking at the right time".

World Professional Billiards Championship results

* 1992: Won (beat Mike Russell, 2529–718)
* 1993: Won (beat Mike Russell, 2139–1140)
* 1994: Semi-finalist (lost to Peter Gilchrist)Clarifyme|date=December 2007
* 1995: Won (beat Devendra Joshi, 1661–931)
* 1996: Runner-up (lost to Mike Russell, 1848–2534)
* 1997: -Clarifyme|date=December 2007
* 1998: Won (beat Mike Russell, 1400–1015)
* 1999: -Clarifyme|date=December 2007
* 2000: Quarter-finalist (lost to David Causier)Clarifyme|date=December 2007
* 2001: Won (beat Ashok Shandilya, 3484–1289)
* 2002: Semi-finalist (lost to Peter Gilchrist, 851–1767)
* 2003: group stages
* 2004: Quarter-finalist (lost to David Causier, 722–971)
* 2006: Won (beat England's Lee Lagan, 2073–1057)
* 2007: Semi-finalist (lost to Mike Russell, 1231–1835)
* 2008: Runner-up (lost to Mike Russell, 1342–1821)

Titles

* World Professional Billiards Champion: 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2006
*World Amateur Billiards Champion: 1985, 1987, 2001
*Gold Medallist, 13th Asian Games, Bangkok 1998
*Asian Billiards Champion: 1987
*National Billiards Champion: 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1997, 1998
*National Snooker Champion: 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988

Awards and recognition

A major sporting hero in India, he is a recipient of India's highest sporting award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for 1992–1993; both the Padma Shri and the Arjuna Award in 1986; and the K.K. Birla Award, 1993.

Personal life

Sethi still lives in Ahmedabad, with his wife Kiran and their two children, Jazz and Raag.Cite web
title=Geet Sethi
url= http://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/sports/geet-sethi.html
work=
publisher=India's Who is Who
date=
accessdate=2008-04-22] In addition to billiards competitions, Sethi also works a managerial job in the Tata Oil Mills. Sethi has an MBA from the BK School of Business Management, and is an alumnus of St. Xavier's High School and St. Xavier’s College in Ahmedabad.Facts|date=December 2007

In 2005 he authored an autobiographical movitational book called "Success vs Joy"Cite book
last=Sethi
first=Geet
title=Success vs Joy
url= http://shopping.rediff.com/shop/productdisplay.jsp?prrfnbr=1032114
publisher=
location=
year=
isbn=] which has received positive reviews,Who|date=December 2007 including one from Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan. Geet has set up a number of websites such as the (now defuct) portal Kheladi.com.Clarifyme|date=December 2007

Controversy

Currently he is promoting a venture called GoldQuest,Fact|date=December 2007 ostensibly committed to supporting sportspersons with Olympic medal-winning potential.

References