Bengaluru: Poland’s Michal Szubarczyk gave Bhavya Pipaliya a hard reality check.
Granted, Pipaliya is still in his teens had has the time to harden his now-brittle mindset and smoothen out his faulty technique, but the lesson he sat through on the opening day of the IBSF World Under-17 Snooker Championship at KSBA on Saturday will not be forgotten soon.
While Pipalya had the look one wears when an uncontested loss looms large, he knew he was in the presence of a prodigy, the likes of whom he hasn’t encountered on the junior circuit, least of all in India.
Szubarczyk put away Pipaliya 85-28, 98-11, 74-20.
The yet-to-turn 13 Szubarczyk is certainly a work in progress for he mucks up some rather silly shots and misses out on big breaks, but these errors aren’t nearly as frequent as you would expect from someone at this level. You saw plenty of those mistakes across the other tables, but on Table No.7, you witnessed Szubarczyk walking about at leisure, potting balls with the same degree of nonchalance.
So one-sided was the contest that even Szubarczyk’s father - Kamil - stopped watching the game and spent considerable time scrolling through his phone.
Kamil had seen Szubarczyk become the youngest Polish Under-18 and Under-21 champion only last year so he knew this game was not one to worry about. Still, the efficacy with which Michal put away Pipaliya was something to behold.
Besides having the cueball on a string, Michal had judged the pace of the table to a degree which was uncanny for someone who has practiced here only for a few days.
Save for a couple of mistakes, one even involved him nearly scratching the table when attempting a screwback, his foresight saw him set up shot after shot without having to stretch himself thin in thought.
Meanwhile, Pipaliya’s trips to the table became more and more sporadic, and even when he did get to it, he was so in his own head that he was unable to pot shots he would have typically not spared a thought for.
Such was Michal’s presence on the day.
Results: Riley Powell (Wal) bt Aarav Sancheti (Ind) 3-0 (52-7, 61-28, 98 (74)-0); Mohammed Mustafa (Ind) bt Lennart Tomei (Ger) 3-1 (68-34, 57-36, 30-65, 63-54); Ziyad Alqabbani (KSA) bt Hassan Ali Amanulla (SL) 3-0 (63-24, 74-18, 74-36); Jabez Naveen Kumar (Ind) bt Kai Nam Pang (HKG) 3-1 (35-65, 54-27, 71-39, 65-45); Sky Chan (HKG) bt Krzysztof Czapnik (Pol) 3-1 (29-67 (41), 72 (64)-29, 62-6, 76-6); Christian Richter (Ger) bt Sham Alwin (Ind) 3-0 (65-15, 84 (58)-21, 93 (46)-11); Lomnaw Issarangkun (Thai) bt Abdullah Alqabbani (KSA) 3-0 (64-6, 71-1, 76-0); Paul Arthur Jeroch (Ger) bt Abdulaziz Alsawad (KSA) 3-0 (51-31, 61-24, 66-15); Powell (Wal) bt Mutasim Al Saadi (Omn) 3-1 (60-16, 69-22, 31-56, 73-16); Parham Kazemimoghaddam (Irn) bt Aarav Sancheti (Ind) 3-2 (41-57, 83-40, 65-58, 24-57, 65-48); Lennart Tomei (Ger) bt Hassan Ali Amanulla (SL) 3-0 (70-57, 59-24, 56-15); Ziyad Alqabbani (KSA) bt Mohammed Mustafa (Ind) 3-0 (49-19, 70(66)-1, 70-63); Benyamin Gazavand (Irn) bt Mohamed Alaswed (KSA) 3-1 (38-52, 44-29, 50-6, 58-12); Misagh Dehghani (Irn) bt Rahul Williams (Ind) 3-1 (75-31, 88-27, 24-55, 57-23); Lomnaw Issarangkun (Tha) bt Christian Richter (Ger) 3-1 (73-9, 38-86, 69-21, 85-26(51); Michał Szubarczyk (Pol) bt Bhavya Pipaliya (IND) 3-0 (85(59)-28, 98-11, 74(41)-20).