‘People don’t take me seriously’

At the Karnataka State Billiards Association last week, while most players sat having their evening dose of chai and chit-chat, Devendra Joshi went about slotting the ball with the sole aim of qualifying for the main draw of the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Bangalore. Though Joshi did not have any title to show against his name in the end, his hunger to excel set him apart.

Winning the league match against Rupesh Shah, Joshi showed a glimpse of his old self. By the end of the semifinals he had made his mark in the tournament, the defeat to Geet Sethi notwithstanding.

As the time format began on Saturday, Joshi seemed determined to put up a good show.

"I’m quite satisfied with my performance in the points format, although I would have loved to have played the final."

Joshi had to play the qualifiers, after he failed to finish among the top-8 in the Nationals.

"Although I started off well in the Nationals, two bad days of billiards and I lost in the pre-quarterfinals," he said.

This year has been reasonable good for the veteran star, who reached the semifinals of the Australian Open Billiards Championship.

Joshi feels he has never been out of form in the last decade.

"I have been quite consistent in the last decade. It is just that people don’t take me seriously. There are so many other stars in billiards in the country that even the media does not notice me unless there is a spectacular performance," said a smiling Joshi.

But he is quick to admit that he hasn’t been practising as much as he should be. "I’ve been very busy with work and organising local tournaments in Mumbai that I hadn’t practised as much as I should," said the BPCL employee.

On his performance this year Joshi said, "I’ve played a few good tournaments after the Nationals. At the Australian Open, the competition was all that tough, I would rate my performance in the Meerut National level tournament better since most of the top players played there and I beat Geet Sethi in that event."

On his semifinal match against Sethi, the Arjuna awardee said, "I hadn’t seen a match of that quality or played a match like that before. It was a high quality match I enjoyed playing," recounted the 42-year old.