Billiards ace Peter Gilchrist wins two titles in New Zealand to regain world No. 1 spot
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Singapore's Peter Gilchrist is just carrying on where he left off last season, when he won seven out of 11 finals.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE – He may be 55, but the feeling of winning and standing on top of the world rankings never gets old for Singapore’s English billiards player Peter Gilchrist, who is back at the summit after clinching two titles in New Zealand in the past week to kick off the new season in style.
Last Thursday, he beat compatriot and 69th-ranked Glenn Yeo 1,015-284 in the Auckland Open final.
He completed his double on Sunday with a 792-444 win over England’s world No. 10 Gary Norman at the New Zealand Open to overtake Englishman David Causier in the world rankings.
Gilchrist told The Straits Times: “Yes, it’s really nice to be No. 1 again, and I hope I can hold on to it for a long time to come.
“The key to winning the events was making big breaks.
“There were breaks in the 300s to 700s, quite a few 200s and many 100s. It’s been a long time since I’ve made breaks like that.”
The four-time long-format world champion is just carrying on where he left off last season, when he won seven out of 11 finals. He did lose, though, the SEA Games billiards men’s singles final 3-0 to Myanmar’s Pauk Sa and then the World Matchplay Championship quarter-final 6-5 to Causier.
In his first tournament of the new season, he also reached the final of the Jim Williamson Open in Leeds, but lost 587-397 to England’s world No. 4 Peter Sheehan.
Gilchrist credited the new ParadiGm cue tips for his consistency, as “they really grip the cue ball and hold their shape really well”.
The 2006 and 2010 Asian Games’ English billiards bronze medallist is disappointed not to be able to get another crack at a gold medal as cue sports is not in the Hangzhou Asiad’s programme.
But he will focus on trying for another world title instead – the Oct 16-19 World Billiards Championship, which follows the Oct 14-15 English Open in Birmingham.
He said: “Unfortunately, cue sports is not in the Asian Games until 2030, but I’m looking forward to the world championship and it feels good to be entering good form and making big breaks before that.”
Gilchrist also weighed in on the controversy in which Cuesports Singapore is serving a second six-month suspension
With ACBS recognised by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) as Asia’s governing body for pool, local players, including former world No. 1 Aloysius Yapp, have been banned from competing in tournaments sanctioned by WPA.
Gilchrist is not keen to get involved in the politics of the game, and is not affected as the tournaments he plays in are sanctioned by World Billiards and not the World Confederation of Billiard Sports.
But he said: “It’s going to be the organisers’ or association’s loss in the long run if they don’t want the top players to be there in their respective events.”
