Billiards: No resting on laurels for Gilchrist

For the past seven years, he has had to juggle the responsibilies of both player and national coach.

But come January, Peter Gilchrist will turn his full attention to the latest challenge in his 25-year billiards career - reclaiming the world No. 1 spot in his sport.

And he will have no lack of support either, as he was one of the 66 inaugural Sports Excellence Scholarship recipients announced in September.

Under the scheme, the current world No. 2 will earn an annual stipend of between $24,000 and $90,000, with additional funding for coaching and competitions.

"The scholarship has given me a boost," The Straits Times Star of the Month for October said.

"When I was coaching, I missed a few tournaments and my ranking slipped. But now that I can play in them all, I should be able to get back to the top."

His confidence stems from the fact that he beat the incumbent world No.1, Briton David Causier, in the final of last month's World Billiards Championship.

It was the Middlesbrough native's third world title - adding to the crowns he won in 1994 and 2001.

But as he prepares for his next test - the defence of his SEA Games billiards singles gold medal - the 45-year-old knows that his reputation will count for little in Myanmar.

And it all comes down to the tournament format.

"People think the world champion will probably win the gold, but the format is completely different," said Gilchrist, whose world championship success came in the long format.

In this format, players win when they reach 400 points for the group stages, 1,000 for quarter-finals, 1,250 for the semi-finals and 1,500 in the final.

In contrast, the SEA Games billiards tournament will be played under short-format rules, in which winners are determined once they hit 100 points.

"In the long format, you can kill your opponent off in one visit - that's what I like to do," explained Gilchrist, who took up Singapore citizenship in 2006.

"But with the short format, you really can't afford to miss. There's probably 100 players in the world who can beat me under those conditions, on any given day."

Even so, his doubles partner for the SEA Games believes that they are on track to strike gold in Myanmar.

"He is one of the most humorous partners I have ever had," Chan Keng Kwang said.

"He makes gameplay truly enjoyable and we are confident that we can take the title, given our ability to cope with what we are to face."

For Gilchrist, striking gold together with his partner would mean just as much as clinching a third straight singles title.

"I definitely want to win the individual event," he said. "But it would be even more special to win one of the team events with K.K.

"That way, I'll feel that I've been a good coach."

Even then, there will still be one title conspicuous by its absence from the world champion's trophy cabinet.

"It's hard to bear, not having won an Asian Games gold," said Gilchrist, who returned with a bronze medal from each of his two previous Asiad outings.

"When I lost, it felt as though I had let Singapore down. The SSC wanted success in the Asian Games so it was horrible that I didn't deliver."

That dream will have to wait, with cuesports left out of next year's Games in Incheon.

But a return is on the cards for the 2019 edition and Singapore's world champion is determined to make it third time lucky in Hanoi.

Even if that means overcoming his less-favoured short format.

"I could go there in the form of my life and still lose because of the format," he admitted.

"In the past, I got over it by telling myself that the short format was the organisers' fault, not mine.

"But I've got to win it in 2019, really. For me, it's unfinished business."

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