The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Alok and Anuja clinch titles

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Saturday, Feb 03, 2007
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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Alok and Anuja clinch titles

Avinash Nair

CHAMPIONS: The men's and women's winners Alok Kumar and Anuja Thakur congratulate each other. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: Alok Kumar (PSPB) defeated Rupesh Shah 6-5 to clinch the Jain Heights sponsored 73rd Senior National Snooker championship at the KSBA's McDowell Hall here on Friday. Alok won 66-19, 59-05, 73-17, 52-60, 61-68, 10-66, 65-17, 60-35, 26-47, 43-83, 80-65.

In the women's final, Anuja Thakur defeated Vidya Pillai 3-0 (79-37, 75-15, 69-33).

Rupesh showed remarkable resilience but fell short on the final stretch. Despite being down 0-3 and 3-5 in the best of 11-frame final, Rupesh recovered but just could not tilt the balance in his favour. As against Yasin in the semifinals on Thursday, Rupesh produced excellent safety play and potted brilliantly to level the scores initially and then threaten to take the lead. But Alok, a former Asian champion and a shrewd snooker player, was not to be perturbed.

Close contest

"I created some excitement," joked Alok after the final.

A string of 40s early on saw Alok run away with a 3-0 lead. Rupesh, however, fought back. With Alok probably getting complacent, Rupesh took the next frame.

A clearance of 18 after Alok fouled on blue was the turning point for Rupesh as he rolled up the fifth frame as well with a black play-off, a difficult long angled pot.

In the sixth, Rupesh again gave very little away and won 66-10.

With the scores tied at 3-all at the break, the players regrouped but this time it was Alok who held sway. At 5-3 it looked curtains for Rupesh but Alok missed an easy red. Rupesh made Alok pay for the miss with a 33 to win the frame.

The 10th frame was a nervy affair with Rupesh coming up with five successive `foul and miss'. Alok, however, could not capitalise and Rupesh came up with breaks of 37 and 38 to take the match into the decider.

Deciding frame

In the deciding 11th frame, both players played freely. Rupesh began with a 36. But Rupesh's four successive `foul and miss' and Alok's break of 35 saw the scores virtually level at 51-50.

A foul by Rupesh earned Alok the freeball and two colours. In the end, Alok found his long potting with a brown and blue to clinch the exciting match.

Earlier, Yasin Merchant whipped local favourite Pankaj Advani 3-0 to clinch the third place.

Women's champion

In the women's final, Anuja Thakur drubbed Vidya Pillai 3-0 to clinch the title. Earlier in the semifinals, she had outplayed her sister Meenal Thakur in straight frames.

Vidya had earlier in the day fought hard against Chitra Magimairaj of Karnataka in the semifinals before triumphing 3-2 and she just did not have enough in her to put up a fight.

"I was too tired," admitted Vidya after the final.

In the semifinals, Chitra had the match well wrapped up against Vidya but blundered with a `green pot' instead of forcing the pink, which cost her dearly despite enjoying a 20 plus points lead in the decider.

The results:

Men: Final: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Rupesh Shah (Guj) 6-5 (66-19, 59-05, 73-17, 52-60, 61-68, 10-66, 65-17, 60-35, 26-47, 43-83, 80-65). Third place: Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 4-0 (64-35, 62-28, 68-10, 71-34).

Women: Final: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 3-0 (79-32, 75-15, 69-33). Third place: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Chitra Magimairaj (Krn) 2-0 (59-24, 49-40). Semifinals: Anuja Thakur bt Meenal Thakur 3-0 (57-24, 67-51, 55-20); Vidya Pillai bt Chitra M. 3-2 (30-42, 61-41, 40-75, 47-08, 69-27.

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