The Hindu : Sport : Anuja is champion

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Saturday, Jan 07, 2006

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Sport

Anuja is champion

S.R. Suryanarayan

— Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Anuja Thakur of PSPB, the National women's snooker champion.

CHENNAI: She had missed retaining her billiards title but Anuja Thakur will still have happy memories as she regained the snooker title 3-1 at the expense of the reigning champion Vidya Pillai of Tamil Nadu in the LIC-BSNL national billiards and snooker championship here on Friday.

In a final that did not rise to great heights, both players began tentatively but the initial foray of Vidya gave glimpses of her being on track. But when she began faltering, even missing easy potting, Anuja grew in strength after being a frame down.

So much so that from the third frame the cut shots and long essays found the pockets in a flash. In the fourth frame, where she took an early lead, that Anuja could win without even sinking any of the six colours spoke volumes of the PSPB player's confidence and touch. Anuja had last won the snooker title in 2001.

Contrasting semifinals

Earlier in two contrasting semifinals, Vidya edged out Ashwini Puranik (MP) in a tight match that proved a battle of wits while Anuja displayed fine touch and assurance in stopping Heena Khandelwal of Maharashtra. Vidya's match went on a laborious note with both players taking their own time and also showing a tendency to falter. Such was the tenseness that had enveloped the two players that at one stage Ashwini stepped in to dispute the referee's decision. For all this Ashwini had her chance to catch up in the final game but missed potting a green and then a brown and worse, sank the cue ball to leave Vidya an easy winner.

In the junior boys' snooker, expectedly Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta had an easy time but a few other close matches held attention. For instance, sub-junior billiards winner Ayush Kumar (Pun) clinched the issue in the fourth game, potting the final `black' and Tamil Nadu's sprightly youngster Vinay Kothari too had a similar experience.

The results:

Snooker:

Women: Fnal: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 39-62, 68-40, 62-30, 62-22; Third place: Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Heena Khandelwal (Mah) 48-55, 56-37, 69-14; Semifinal: Anuja bt Heena 29-59, 61-12, 56-19, 47-43; Vidya bt Ashwini 40-52, 64-16, 67-15, 35-57, 53-30. Quarterfinals: Ashwini bt M. Chitra (Kar) 60-16, 79-37, 25-67, 48-29; Anuja bt Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) 58-31, 72-40, 65-20; Heena bt Meenal Thakur (Mah) 58-50, 41-33, 4-45, 71-69.

Pre-quarterfinals: Neeta bt Jagruti Patel (Mah) 45-29, 34-51, 62-32; Meenal bt Neeta Kothari (WB) 73-23, 70-29; Heena bt Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) 51-34, 58-37; Anuja bt Suniti Damani (WB) 70-11, 65-15.

Junior boys: pre-quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Vinay Chawla (Pun) 67-15, 105-13, 80-9; Rovin D'Souza (Mah) bt Simranjeet Singh (Del) 24-59, 60-53, 57-34, 70-67; second round: Aditya Mehta (Mah) bt Hitesh Soni (Pun) 87-10, 73-16, 94-9; Pushpinder Singh (Del) bt S.H. Shaluja (Ors) 44-67, 71-11, 73-3, 78-13; Shabz Adil Khan (WB) bt Anuj Bhargav (U.P.) 66-48, 60-51, 57-48; Vinay Chawla (Pun) bt Raunaq Vazirani (Guj) 39-69, 59-20, 71-62, 21-85, 68-52; Ritesh Shabani (MP) bt Himanshu (Raj) 66-31, 58-63, 61-59, 64-57; Simranjeet (Raj) bt Anish Anand (Guj) 47-35, 32-51, 63-39, 55-52; Pankaj bt Sudhir Pateria (MP) 134-1, 55-26, 106-15; Ayush Kumar (Pun) bt Vinayak Agarwal (U.P.) 55-41, 75-43, 12-63, 59-55; Ajay Bhushan (Kar) bt Shyamal Sharma (Bih) 46-38, 54-33, 66-9; Chetan Chopra (Har) bt Karan Anand (Mah) 50-79, 70-37, 58-13, 12-79, 76-39; Faizal Khan (Del) bt Karthik Ramasamy (TN) 87-14, 81-7, 76-15; Lucky Vatnanin (AP) bt Balaji Reddy (Kar) 51-16, 61-57, 56-61, 49-37.

First round: Vinay Kothari (TN) bt Umar Farook (J & K) 55-34, 16-57, 63-46, 59-40; Khizar Rawoof (AP) bt Dhwaj Haria (Guj) 62-16, 60-46, 63-19.

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