SEA Games 2025: Silver for Peter Gilchrist, Karthik Ramaswamy in English billiards after loss to Myanmar

BANGKOK – In a pressure-cooker situation like the English billiards men’s team final, even the best in the business like Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist and Myanmar’s Pauk Sa, who share 10 SEA Games singles titles between them, can get shaky.

Hence, it was no surprise that their supporting cast were also hit by nerves, as Singapore’s Karthik Ramaswamy could not make big breaks, while Nay Thway Oo reached out to take a jacket to cover his cold hands.

Ultimately, it was the Burmese who prevailed 3-1 to deny Singapore a historic gold in this event.

Gilchrist, who beat Pauk Sa for the singles gold on Dec 12, told The Straits Times: “I won my singles match today in one visit and had a couple of decent chances in the doubles. But if you miss in the doubles, you're not coming to the table for another few goes and you’re just not in control. 

“The 100-ups are very tough. I’ve made nine breaks over 90 and I don’t think another player has made a 90. But it’s winning the tight ones and scrappy ones that can make the difference. You miss one shot and then sometimes it can just get to you and you think, have I missed that?”

That was precisely what happened in the first singles when Ramaswamy took a 25-0 lead but eventually lost 100-46 to Aung Htay.

Up stepped Gilchrist to capitalise on a mistake by Pauk Sa to level the scores with a 100-68 win in the second singles.

However, in an error-strewn doubles game, the Singaporeans just could not seize the initiative and it was left to Pauk Sa to seal the frame 100-35 with a break of 51.

Ramaswamy then had to beat the 66-year-old in the third singles to keep his team alive, but he just could not string together a break of more than 20 points as Pauk Sa won 102-45.

Played on a table with the same dimensions as snooker, English billiards features three balls – white and yellow, one of which serves as a cue ball for one player and an object ball for the opponent and vice versa, and the red ball that is a common object ball.

Points can be scored through cannons and potting balls and, in the current SEA Games format, the first player to reach 100 points wins the frame, and the first to secure three frames wins the match.

A crestfallen Ramaswamy felt that he cost his teammate the gold. The 40-year-old said: “Myanmar are a great team. They are all good players, but there were enough chances for us to have put on a better show today. Right now I’m a little sad because I let Peter down. He played well throughout. I played a bit better yesterday than today, so this is mostly on me.

“This was my first final, so there was a bit more nerves in the first game. In the last frame, I was in a pretty good position and about 20 points ahead. Both the balls in the centre worked out nicely, but I just couldn’t get used to the conditions. 

“I should make 100 from those positions. Making 100 is something I do occasionally – I just need to get to a position where I do it more frequently. These things come with experience, but these are things to work on. Hopefully, two years is enough time for me to get there and we will do better next time.”

Nevertheless, Gilchrist saw a silver lining as Singapore made it to the team final for the first time.

The 57-year-old Middlesbrough native, who will enjoy Christmas with his family and celebrate his wife Dorothy’s birthday on Dec 26 before returning to the tour for the Jan 23-25 UK Championship, said: “It was a great win by us to beat Thailand 3-1 in the semis and a good silver medal.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing that we didn’t get the gold, but we gave our best shot and it just didn’t happen today.

“We have got some good billiards players like Karthik, Alex Puan and Glenn Yeo, and a few after them who are not too bad, so I hope they can come and compete for us too.”