Wilson Lionel Garton-Jones (2 May 1922 – 4 October 2003) was a professional player of

English billiards English billiards, called simply billiards in the UK and in many former British colonies, is a cue sport that combines the aspects of carom billiards and pool. Two (one white and one yellow) and a red are used. Each player or team uses a diffe ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Jones, a dominant national amateur champion for more than a decade, won the amateur world championship twice, in 1958 and 1964. He was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

in 1963, the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Award in 1965, and the Dronacharya Award in 1996. He was the first Indian to be a World champion in any sport. Jones, an

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people are a distinct minority group, minority community of mixed-race British and Indian ancestry. During the colonial period, their ancestry was defined as British paternal and Indian maternal heritage; post-independence, "Angl ...

, was born in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, and studied at Bishop High School and St. Vincent's High School, before joining the War Service in 1939. Jones appeared in the national championship for the first time in 1947.PN Sundaresan, The humble champion of the green baize, Sportsweek, 12–18 June 1985, pp 38-41 In 1950, he won his first national title, defeating T. A. Selvaraj in the final. During the next sixteen years, he won the amateur National Billiards Championship of Indian twelve times. He won both the national billiards and snooker titles in 1952 and 1954. Jones' first World Billiards Championship was in London in 1951. In Calcutta in 1952, he won only one match, against Ameen Yunoos of

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. He failed in the next Championship in Sydney in 1954 as well but it gave him a chance to spend time with

Walter Lindrum Walter Albert Lindrum, Order of the British Empire, OBE (29 August 1898 – 30 July 1960), often known as Wally Lindrum, was an Australian professional player of English billiards who held the World Professional Billiards Championship from 1933 ...

. On his fourth attempt, on 11 December 1958 Jones won the World Amateur Billiards Championship held at Great Eastern Hotel in . In his final match, he defeated Chandra Hirjee of India 4655–2287 in four two-hour sessions. On the previous day, he defeated

Leslie Driffield Leslie Driffield (1912–1988) was an English world champion player of English billiards. He won the World Amateur Billiards Championship title twice, in 1952 and 1967; and the Billiards and Snooker Control Council version of the world prof ...

after trailing by more than 660 points with 105 minutes left. Jones took lead with fifteen minutes left and scored 123 unfinished in his last visit. Driffield finished second in the round robin. This was followed up by another world title in 1964 in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. After retirement, Jones moved on to coaching, and mentored professional champions such Om Agarwal,

Subhash Agarwal Subhash Agarwal (born 28 July 1948) is an Indian professional player and coach of English billiards and snooker. A National Snooker Champion of India, he was the runner-up in the 1983 amateur IBSF World Billiards Championship, losing to Michael Fe ...

, and Ashok Shandilya. In 2003, Jones died following a heart attack.

References

External links

Wilson Jones Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Wilson 1922 births 2003 deaths Indian players of English billiards Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Arjuna Award Recipients of the Dronacharya Award Anglo-Indian people World champions in English billiards Cue sports players from Maharashtra Sportspeople from Pune