UK not OK, I'm Indian: Nalin Patel

HYDERABAD: For Nalin Patel, seeded fifth at the forthcoming World Billiards Championship, representing India is always a matter of pride, but the Mumbai-based cueist has seldom had the opportunity.
Skill is not the criterion on which Nalin is denied a chance to represent his country, for he is among the top ten players in the world. Strange, but the truth is it is his British passport which has been the impediment on many an occasion.
The seedings list prepared by the organisers of the event to be held at Hotel Taj Krishna from November 17, shows Nalin to be representing the United Kingdom, a fact which took Nalin
by surprise.
Expressing unhappiness over this, Nalin told The Times of India that he will not represent the United Kingdom. "If I am not allowed to play for India then I will not represent any country," said Patel.
"I do pay my taxes in the country and I was a resident of India till November last year. So I love to represent my country here," says a resolute Nalin. "If tennis players who stay abroad can play for India in the Davis Cup, why not cueists?"
Nalin recalled that he faced a similar situation five years ago at the Busan Asian Games where he was not allowed to play for India, again for holding a British passport.
Faced with a similar situation again in 2001 at the International Billiards and Snooker Federation''s (IBSF) Championship held at New Zealand, Nalin decided not to represent any country.
Now he waits for the organisers to decide his fate on which depends his decision whether to play here or not.
But before being treated as a foreigner, Nalin served the country well. In 1996, he defeated Mike Russell who was unbeaten that year at the Madras Grand Slam, which Nalin says was his best game till date.
Nalin was a quarterfinalist at the IBSF''s Championships last year in Sydney, where both the time format and the newly introduced points format was used.
About the introduction of the 150-up format at the World event here, Nalin says it will bring an element of surprise and create a few upsets. However, he does have reservations about the format.
Billards should be played in the time format, otherwise it takes the charm out of the game, Nalin says. "It is like replacing Test cricket with One Day game." Nalin had incidentally represented Bombay University in cricket.