Towering above his opponents with a head of sandy brown hair, there's no mistaking Peter Gilchrist on the floor of the cue sports event at the Asian Games.
Two-time billiards world champion Gilchrist, who is 1.93m tall, switched the bleak northern English city of Middlesbrough for tropical southeast Asia three years ago and took Singaporean citizenship this year.
Now he's representing his adopted country in English Billiards at the Asian Games.
English Billiards, generally played on a large 3.66m-by-1.83m table, uses just three balls -- a plain white, a white with a spot, and a red. Players score points by pocketing balls and can continue shooting until a shot, or pocket, is missed.
Gilchrist started playing the sport at the age of 12, when he sought refuge from a snowed-out soccer match in a local snooker club.
"I was just hooked on it from then on," he said in an interview on Wednesday.
As fascination turned to obsession, Gilchrist's made the most of his father's job as a firefighter and the billiards table at the station.
"I could leave school at four o'clock and be down at the fire station at 4:30. So from 4:30 to eight o'clock, dad told all the other firemen they couldn't use the table so I could practice," he said.
Gilchrist won his first English Amateur Championship in 1987, aged 19, and turned professional two years later.
No stranger to Asia, much of Gilchrist's early professional career was spent regularly traveling to the billiards hotbed of India for its lucrative tournaments.
"Billiards was huge over there when I first turned professional with big tobacco sponsorships," he said. "Once the tobacco companies were banned from sponsoring sport, billiards waned a little bit and I had to find a new career."
A certified coach, Gilchrist found himself in demand in emerging billiards markets like Canada, Thailand and Qatar, before being invited to steer the Singapore national team in 2003.
Gilchrist said he wasn't taken with Singapore on his only previous visit in 2000.
"I was only there four days and my girlfriend at the time was sick ... I didn't particularly like the place," he said. "Now I just think it's the best place in the world."
Gilchrist regularly travels to visit friends and family in England, but says he can't imagine returning to live.
"I've made a lot of really good friends in Singapore and I feel as though it's my home," he said. "The lifestyle is a lot better for me."
After playing as a professional for 17 years and working in the sport in England, Gilchrist said he was looking for a new challenge and the Singapore coaching offer came at the perfect time.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS