But Sethi never mentioned his name, instead he preferred to do it on the Karnataka State Billiards Association Hall with sizzling breaks of 885 and 750.
Separated by just three and a half hours, the breaks, which came in different matches set the tone for the time format of the IBSF World Billiards Championship on Saturday.
If there was one who could deliver the promise that Sethi gave, it was Sethi himself. For someone who held the record of maximum break (1276) for 12 years before being surpassed by Peter Gilchrist (1347), it was business as usual at the table as his run of 885 on the fourteenth visit came after he had set the tempo with a 425 on his ninth visit in the match against Aidan Murray of Ireland.
All that Murray could do was to sit back and watch a legend in full flow, just like the few spectators did, as he crashed to a 167-1939 loss. Later in the evening, it was Singapore's Teik Chong Alan Puan's turn to be at the receiving end of a Sethi blitz as the ace Indian came with runs of 426 and 750 en route to his 2102-159 victory.
"It can't get better than this. Once in a while you get a chance and like this and you have to make use of it," said Sethi who remained unfazed despite the frequent interruption in power supply.
Easy for Advani
Earlier, Advani left the party mood and was back in business with a 1735-703 win over compatriot Prem Prakash. Advani was slow to start with, but got into the groove soon with a 307 on his fourth visit and followed it up with a 255 on his 37th visit to make his intentions pretty clear.
In Group D, southpaw Dhruv Sitwala, whom National coach Subash Agarwal rates as one of the title contenders, rolled over Vietnamese Thanh Binh Nguyen 1025-647.
Later in the evening, local boy B Bhaskar created one of the major upsets of the day when he beat Thailand's former world champion Praput Chaithanasakun 856-674 in a thrilling Group F tie.
Results (Indians unless specified otherwise):
Group A: Pankaj Advani bt Prem Prakash 1735 (307, 89, 96,109, 120, 161,164, 255, 97) – 703 (68,86,50,50); S Mohammad (SL) bt Michael Wright (EBOS) 670-582; Advani bt M Wright (EBOS) 1816 (121, 122, 168) -377; Prakash bt S Mohamed (SL) 1589 (131, 108)-561
Group B: Devendra Joshi (Ind) bt Darren Taylor (NZ) 1477 (59, 426, 52, 61, 134, 117, 52) – 332; Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Tha) bt Boon Aun Keith E (Sin) 1380 (63, 279, 72, 111, 55, 56, 186)-332; S Thawat (Tha) bt D Taylor (NZ) 1259-385; Joshi bt BA Keith (Sin) 2191 (150, 182, 373, 423) -254
Group C: Thanh Long Nguyen (Vie) bt Calum Hossack (Sco) 1117 (119, 119, 161, 129, 78) -252; Sourav Kothari bt Philip Mumford (Eng) 1113 (116, 154, 54, 199, 223,132)- 432; Kothari bt C Hossack (Sco) 1424 (105, 104) -320; TL Nguyen (Vie) bt P Mumford (Eng) 988-540.
Group D: Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) bt Thanh Binh Nguyen (Vie) 1025 (51, 153, 170, 242)– 647 (104,88); Larry Drennan (Ire) bt Mohammed Aslam (SL) 781 (87,50) – 485 (56, 64); Sitwala bt Larry Drennan (Ire) 1196 (118, 106, 282)-444, T B Nguyen bt M Aslam (SL) 1019-638
Group E: Peter Gilchrist (Sin) bt Raghoo Sinha 1834 (70, 148, 222, 88, 62, 105, 71, 74, 400, 105) – 368; Shyam Jagtiani bt Md Asim 765 (59, 56, 87, 67, 68, 90) – 624 (73, 159); Shyam Jagtiani bt Raghoo Sinha 1040 (105) -547; Peter Gilchrist (Sin) bt Mohd Asim 2089 (188, 348, 312,122)-429.
Group F: B Bhaskar bt Brijesh Damani (Ind) 867 (74, 132, 117, 93, 138,102) – 697 (81, 59,53, 53, 83); Praput Chaithanasakun (Tha) bt Gary Oliver (NZ) 1151 (95, 87, 325. 141, 97, 64)– 444 (56, 65, 73, 88); B Bhaskar bt Praput Chaithanasakun (Tha) 856(171,175) -674 (149); Brijesh Damani bt Gary Oliver (NZ) 1002 (141)- 759.
Group G: Rupesh Shah bt Suriya Suwannasingh (Tha) 1299 (78, 97, 58, 64, 99, 132, 64, 75, 179,180) – 462 (95,63); Arvind Savur bt Wayne Carey (NZ) 823 (66) – 623 (42); Rupesh Shah bt Wayne Carey (NZ) 1247 (265, 205, 128)-454; Suriya S (Tha) bt A Savur 815 (107) – 512.
Group H: Teik Chong Alan Puan (Sin) b Gary Norman (EBOS) 957 (124, 65, 91) – 301; Geet Sethi bt Aidan Murray (Ireland) 1939 (87, 425, 885, 64, 75, 54, 56,75,88) – 167; Geet Sethi bt Teik Chong Alan Puan 2102 (426, 136, 234, 750, 138)-159; Aidan Murray (Ire) bt Garry Norman (EBOS) 628 (66)-39.
