India remembers
Independent India's first World Sporting Champ
Function Photographs
Audio of Press Conference
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When
India won their first series against England in Enland under Ajit
Wadekar, a giant concrete cricket bat was erected in Indore.
Last week I passed that bat in a bus carrying India's cue great who
were giving a demonstration of snooker at the Emerald Heights
International School. An idea came to mind: why not commemorate the
golden jubilee of Wilson Jones' first world title on December 11
similarly with a giant cue that all Mumbai people would see. Well,
Shyam Kotak, of the PJ Hindu Gymkhana, a family friend of 'Jones
Family' took up that challenge and erected such a cue and it was
there when the golden jubilee of post-Independence India's first
world title in any Sport Wilson Jones' world amateur billiards title
in 1958 was ushered in style by Rosy Blue and P.J. Hindu Gymkhana on
December 10.
A plea was also made on the day that henceforth every December 11
should be celebrated as World Billiards Day and they should revive a
project close to Wilson's heart, the Western India Juniors
Championship once sponsored by Amirali Merchant of Rexello Castors,
the father of two-time Asian snooker champion Yasin. Yasin was there
to compare the Jones show with great spirit.
Fifty years ago on December 11 1958, Jones beat another Indian,
Chandra Hirjee, for five wins in a row to claim the title at the
Great Eastern Hotel, Calcutta. He had beaten greats Tom Cleary of
Australia and Leslie Driffeld of UK earlier. Jones, an Anglo-Indian
from Pune, won the title again in 1964.
Jones' wife Peggy and her family mingled with later world champs
like Geet Sethi, Ashok Shandilya, Asian snooker champ Yasin Merchant
and Jones' protégés like Subhash Agrawal, Devendra Joshi and Dhruv
Sitwala to recall the good times. Asked why Jones quit the game when
he was good enough for more titles, the wife said: "He quit when
people asked `why' and not `why not' "
Son Geoff said his dad was one of the greatest gentlemen sportsmen
of India and believed in giving back to the game till his end.
There were also Jones' contemporaries
'Tony Monteiro' 70-year-old Prakash Rajani, 89-year-old Uttam
Chandarana and Bharat Vissanji, at whose father RK Vissanji's home
Jones practiced as much as he wished.
Vissanji got Jones a job at Wallace Flour Mills soon after his world
title. A cake in the form of the Arthur Walker trophy for world
billiards was cut by the wife and son Geoff. A Wilson Jones
commemorative mug was unveiled. The gymkhana president, Ramesh
Panchmatia, announced the launching of the Wilson Jones Billiards
Academy.
Among those present where women players Meenal Thakur and Sangeeta
Hemchand, for whom snooker is a therapy for a life-threatening
disease, snooker pro Aditya Mehta, and former Test cricketers Bapu
Nadkarni, Umesh Kulkarni and Yajurvindrasinh__all residents of
Sports field where Jones lived in the latter part of his life.
Nadkarni said Jones who used to chair the society's meetings was "a
gentleman the likes of which are hard to find".
Geet Sethi said Jones' 1958 world title counted more than all the
other world titles that came later (Geet himself has won eight) for
it "gave us self-belief that foreigners could be beaten in a sport
that they had dominated for decades together." Sethi, like Jones'
successor, Michael Ferreira (who couldn't make it), said they were
always given a fatherly treatment by Jones and little tips that made
a big difference. Four-time world champ Ferreira, at 13, was fired
by Jones' triumph in the Evening News of India trophy event.
Subhash Agrawal, World No 2 and among the earliest to be coached by
Wilson along with his world snooker champ brother Om, said: "Sir
impressed on us on discipline on and off the table."
Ashok Shandilya, Jones' his most
successful student, said: "I went to him after I won the national
title so as to prepare for the world event. He had 12 sessions after
which Jones said, 'You have learnt all you need all will depend now
on how much your practice'. I became No 2 and later world No 1. He
told us to keep things simple, not be avaricious to play the
top-table game that was Jones' forte."
Devendra Joshi said: "Jones coached me on the condition that I would
give up cricket, my original game. I never regretted the decision
having reached the world No 2 spot in 1995." Asian snooker champ
Yasin Merchant said: "I was coached by Shyam Shroff and had just one
session with him because I was staying in the suburbs. But Jones
always wrote congratulatory letters when I did well." Yasin hoped
suggestions raised during press conference of a commemorative
postage champ to mark the jubilee and to celebrate December 11 every
year as World Billiards Day would be implemented.
Seventy-year-old Prakash Rajani, a contemporary, said "People like
Ferreira had better stroke play but Jones was the greatest
tournament player." Prakash like Uttam Chandarana, who will be 90
in June, is playing in the Wilson Jones memorial event being
conducted at the gymkhana. Chandarana said: "We shared a platform
once in 1950 when the call came to ban communal tournaments and
Jones made a strong speech. He was a class act,'' said Chandarana
also India's six-time National TT champ. Another TT great, Farokh
Khodaiji, was also present.
Truly it was an evening one will cherish and hopefully Wilson Jones'
family.
Pradeep
Vijayakar
Wednesday
10
December 2008
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