Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1919 — BILLIARD CHAMPION WILL DEFEND TITLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BILLIARD CHAMPION WILL DEFEND TITLE

Melbourne Inman, English Cutfst, rivUMJ 1 I IvluVullf In Handicap Tournament Title Holder Concedes Handicaps Ranging From 1,000 to 2,500 Points in 18,000-Point —• 7 One of the important events in the restoration of sports In England to a pre-war basis will be a billiard championship tournament, In which Melbourne Inman, title holder, will be called on to defend his laurels. Latest dispatches from London state the tournament will be conducted either in March or April. - It will be a handicap competition, with Inman playing from scratch for 18,000 points, and conceding handicaps ranging probably from I,(MX) to 2,500 points. Und«r this arrangement it is felt that the champion will encounter serious opposition. The nature of*the handicap allowances jjas not yet been definitely decided, although the committee in charge has practically agreed on this style tournament for the purpose of .equalizing the play, and giving aspiring billiardists a chance against the -champion. Inman submitted, as his own Idea of what would make a good handicap, the scale of from 1,000 to 2,500 points to his riyals, Jn addition, Inman expressed a willingness to oppose any or all of four leading rivals on the terms of this handicap basis for £2OO a side. Claude Falklner, who is advancing rapidly to the front In English bll-

Hard circles, is among Inman’s foremost rivals. G. A. Heginbotham of Ashton-under-Lynne, Lancashire,' has stepped forward with a. challenge to support Falklner for any sum up to £SOO a side in a match on the scale proposed by the champion, Inman to play-18,000 against Falkiner’s 15,500. Heginbotham is a prominent amateur cueist, and an ardent advocate of the billiard sport. In his younger days at Oxford he won the ’Varsity cue. More recently he has attracted favorable attention as a runner-up in the amateur championships. He has a break of 174 balls, which stood as a record for an amateur for a considerable time. Thomas Newman of North London is another player eager to oppose Inman. Newman has been tentatively allotted a handicap of 1,500 points on the champion, and it Is generally felt that, under this arrangement, Newman is being accorded generous treatment. Thomas Reece has already accepted Inman’s offer to concede him, with Stevenson, a handicap of 1,000 points. Stevenson, however, has not definitely decided.

Melbourne Inman.