Au's safety play did me in: Aditya

Runner-up to Jin Long at Dubai last time around Aditya Mehta only went as far as the last eight in the Asian snooker championship at Tangshan in China. He says he had a good start but couldn't make any headway against Hong Kong's sticky Au Chi Wai who also beat Manan Chandra and took three frames off winner Ratchapol in the semis. Excerpts from the interview:

What went wrong?
I had a great start winning four matches without dropping a frame with a 98 break, a 70 and four-five fifties. But in the quarter-finals I came up against Hong Kong's Au who kept me cold for long spells. And it was not as if he was making big breaks. Just 30s and 40s. Very irritating.

How does one tackle such players?
In such cases one has to sneak ahead to keep a cushion of frames. But I found myself down 1-3 and after that it was tough. The fact that Au took Wattana to 6-3 in the semis shows how tough an opponent he was to beat. And he beat a Chinese to come third.

It was a bad outing for India?
Indeed. Manan also came up against Au and perished. Brijesh Damani didn't make the knockout.
 
How was the standard?
It was a great field for a long time. There were five Chinese some former Asian champ Issara from Thailand and of course Wattana.

Did you get a chance to interact with Wattana?
Yes. We spent some time. At 39 he is hungry for the pro circuit again. I am sure he will do that now that he has a ticket. Had I won I would have met him in the semis.
 

How were the conditions?
The tables were not all that good. It became an issue. Tangshan is an industrial town. There is a university nearby and most of the crowd and the volunteers were from the varsity.

What next?
I will go for an invitation tournament in Thailand and go to train in the UK in June-July.
 

Pradeep Vijayakar :: Mumbai

Tuesday 12 May 2009