Raj Hundal strong words about 9-ball/breaking/the rack

Luxury said:
Raj was not sitting at a bar whining about losing to a bunch of his peers.

He clearly had an agenda to tape an interview as a plea to the guys in charge to make the sport he loves better. He made it controversial enough to get it aired to the masses so clearly his plan worked.

Imagine how many people complained when the forward pass was introduced in American football when they normally just played smashmouth running plays. "That's sissy football." certainly must have been one phrase uttered frequently. Guess what. They made football probably twice as entertaining.

In my opinion it's okay to change rules around to make a certain sport more entertaining and the NFL does it all the time to encourage more passing etc.

Was Raj dissing his opponent? Yes. Did Raj think he had been sharked by his opponent? Yes. Have we ever dissed our opponents after they sharked us or made a move on us? Yes.
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I was there watching the Final, i play on the same pro tour...raj was unlucky in the final...he outplayed Imran but Imran got a bit luckier, but Imran still won (like the 2 previous events)..After each Final someone comes straight up to you with a camera asking for an interview so it was kinda forced upon Raj straight after he lost..so he was pissed off he lost and ranted a bit , Raj is a great player when he's on, but i can see why a few people don't like him he is a bit cocky.
 
Whats next? is he gonna complain that safetys are sissy pool or jump cues are for sissys. I dont neccasrily think hes wrong but, use the rules to ur advantage. Dont cry cause imran played within the parameters and won and u didnt.
 
I'll pass on some words of wisdom when it comes to winning and losing at pool.

Play to win.

If you don't win, shake your opponent's hand and congratulate him.

Don't look at your opponent when faced with a setback or failure.

Look within yourself and learn what it is that you need to to overcome to avoid similar failures in the future.

Never look within your opponent - because he has already discovered and exploited your weakness.

A champion realizes that win or lose, the end result speaks for itself and everything else is just excuses.
 
frankncali said:
So he only wants it his way ?????

The best putters in Golf would love to shorten the course and the longer hitters would lover to make it longer. However they adapt while mastering what THEY are good at.

Why take give him an advantage while taking a cut breakers advantage away. No logic there.

Someone needs to figure out a way to give each guy equal chances at doing something. No one to blame but themselves that way.
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Well the courses are getting longer, that leaves most of us shorknockers out of the running. I just can't hit it as far as other people. Just like I can't break over 24mph (I'm sure I break much closer to 20mph on an average "good" break).

IF I'm correct in thinking that he has a stronger break than the majority of the field, there's plenty of logic in his arguing against the use of a soft break. It would be to his advantage.

I personally don't think soft breaks should be banned, but I understand why he would.

I also agree that 10 ball is much more of a test for pros than 9 ball. I heard Corey breaks soft in that game too but it's still a better game for the pros IMO.
 
A lot of people have voiced there opinion that Raj should have used a soft break to win as well.

He made it quite clear that he wants to keep his big break "in stroke" for the tournaments that matter. (10 ball perhaps) for the greater good of his overall game.

He made it very clear that this tournament mattered little to him and that he has won it so many times so he refused to cut break.

I'm sure we can list examples where a sports athlete could have used a better technique in a particular game but chose to use a different technique that they were more concerned about working on for the greater good of their game.

I have no problem with him pleading his case for a rule change that would be better for him and the sport of pool in his opinion.

Lee Baldwin<<<<<---------- Raj fan
 
Raj and Imran have met in both of the last two Main Tour finals and Imran has won both - plus the first one against Mark Gray.

Imran knows that it is the cut break that is giving him the advantage and talking to him he quite candidly states that the cut break gives him, in his belief, a three rack advantage.

The first of these finals is available online now at Cuesport TV via on- demand all you have to do is register to view.

The comment Raj made I belive was after the second final when Raj was actually 6-0 in front (alternating break race-to-11) - this will be available soon.
 
Responding to 'LUXURY' above

Raj has yet to win a tournament on the newly formed GB 9 Ball Tour. Of the six events so far Imran has won 4 of them, with Raj finishing runner-up to Imran in two of them.

OK so the GB9 is not high profile but when everyone says there is not enough money for these players in pool, then why give up the opportunity to win, in this case $2400?

Both players are very talented and play some fantastic pool, Imran just has an advantage by choosing to use the cut break.
 
CueSportTV said:
Responding to 'LUXURY' above

Raj has yet to win a tournament on the newly formed GB 9 Ball Tour. Of the six events so far Imran has won 4 of them, with Raj finishing runner-up to Imran in two of them.

OK so the GB9 is not high profile but when everyone says there is not enough money for these players in pool, then why give up the opportunity to win, in this case $2400?

Both players are very talented and play some fantastic pool, Imran just has an advantage by choosing to use the cut break.
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Hey cuesport, just a little fyi, you can put someones quote in your respond by hitting the quote button on the bottom of the page :)
 
Again. Besides the English accent Raj was very clear as to why he chose not to use the cutbreak in this small to him tourney. He wants to keep his power break in stroke for bigger tournaments. He knows better than anyone what is best for his master plan. So everyone who says he should have used the cut break was just stating their opinion. No way to know who is right.
 
Luxury said:
Again. Besides the English accent Raj was very clear as to why he chose not to use the cutbreak in this small to him tourney. He wants to keep his power break in stroke for bigger tournaments. He knows better than anyone what is best for his master plan. So everyone who says he should have used the cut break was just stating their opinion. No way to know who is right.
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That's his prerogative, but Raj doesn't need to berate an opponent just because he isn't willing to put himself at a disadvantage like Raj is. There are various games and various breaks. Sometimes the same game may favor a different break depending on the conditions. It should, in theory, be possible to use one break without losing the ability to proficiently use another one later.

At the DCC, if I'm not mistaken, the 9-ball could be going on while the one-pocket still isn't over. If Raj found himself in that situation, would he power break in a one-pocket game to stay in stroke for an upcoming 9-ball match? :eek: JMHO.
 
Cuebacca said:
That's his prerogative, but Raj doesn't need to berate an opponent just because he isn't willing to put himself at a disadvantage like Raj is. There are various games and various breaks. Sometimes the same game may favor a different break depending on the conditions. It should, in theory, be possible to use one break without losing the ability to proficiently use another one later.

At the DCC, if I'm not mistaken, the 9-ball could be going on while the one-pocket still isn't over. If Raj found himself in that situation, would he power break in a one-pocket game to stay in stroke for an upcoming 9-ball match? :eek: JMHO.
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He was defenitely bitter about being sharked and I never defended the berating his opponent part of it for the record. I would only do that on camera if I was desperate for an ipt or tar matchup.

If they did a tar race to 50 10 ball I would bet big on Raj.
 
I don't know about you guys, but using a soft break for one tournament isn't going to throw me out of stroke for using a "big break" in a later event. And even if it does isn't that what practice is for?

Being able to adjust is one of the things that make a player better isn't it? You see people switch speeds or cue ball position when they see others succeeding with their break, it's fun to use your opponent's tactics against them to win sometimes.
 
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I agree that you should use what you know to to win legally. This is similar to the jump cue argument where some players like Earl think they should not allow use of jump cues. But there is no rule that says he can't go out and buy one himself. In fact, a man that can jump full cue will probably be even deadlier with it. So why not get off the ego trip and follow the lead??? If the cut break and jump cues are such an advantage why wouldn't you use them to your advantage???

A. Because you don't want to win
B. Because you don't know how to accept that others are smarter than you
C. You are too stubborn and egotistical to adapt to change!!
 
fasteddienc said:
I agree that you should use what you know to to win legally. This is similar to the jump cue argument where some players like Earl think they should not allow use of jump cues. But there is no rule that says he can't go out and buy one himself. In fact, a man that can jump full cue will probably be even deadlier with it. So why not get off the ego trip and follow the lead??? If the cut break and jump cues are such an advantage why wouldn't you use them to your advantage???

A. Because you don't want to win
B. Because you don't know how to accept that others are smarter than you
C. You are too stubborn and egotistical to adapt to change!!
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Or D. Because maybe Raj thinks he will win more money and more 10 ball tornaments if his quest to get the "good-for-the-fans hard break" back succeeds and maybe he feels he will make a better spokesman if he officially boycotts the cut break until his mission succeeds or fails.

The popular Misconi cup BANNED the nine ball soft break so maybe Raj is onto something. I am all for watching the pros obliterate the rack.
 
I didnt like that ban, as much as I dislike the lack of skill in modern 9-ball this is not the way to go imo.

Honesty and spormanship, dont kick somebody that has gone down, no fingers in the eyes, no sharking, and brek hard! :rolleyes:

I support Raj on this 100%
 
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