The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Devendra Joshi clinches title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007
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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Devendra Joshi clinches title

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Devendra Joshi, cautious and deliberate at the table, nosed ahead of the in-form Sumeet Talwar to win 9-3 in the final of the ONGC-Khar Gym National 8-ball pool championship. The PSPB cueist, adept at billiards and snooker, showed his command over another variation of cue sports and earned Rs.20,000 and champion status. Talwar, a full-time pool player from Chandigarh and a prowler looking for action at every opportunity, was not able to dominate the way he did in the earlier rounds and ended up second best and took home Rs.10,000. The first player to win nine racks emerged the winner.

Joshi overcame Rafat Habib in the semifinals. The Mumbai player, employed with Bharat Petroleum, who had won 8-5 for a place in the final, had a tough time in the quarterfinal against Mohd. Asim (Rlys). Down 2-6, he won the next six racks for a resounding 8-6 victory.

Talwar was in control against Yasin Merchant in the other semifinal and led 5-1. He was fluent in cueing and decisive.

The latter got a look-in on the seventh rack, but in his tentative frame of mind after a couple of fouls, could not trouble the former, whose 8-7 pre-quarterfinal win over Dharmendra Lilly (Punjab) on the strength of positive play in the morning put him in the right frame of mind.

Habib finishes third

Habib, putting the semifinal disappointment behind him, overcame Merchant 5-2 to finish third. Both earned Rs.10,000 each in the event conducted by Khar Gymkhana. The women's pool events will commence on Wednesday, along with the men's 9-ball pool.

The results:

Knock-out: Final: Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Sumeet Talwar (Chandigarh) 9-3.

Semifinals: Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Rafat Habib (Rlys) 8-5; S. Talwar (Chd) bt Yasin Merchant (Mah) 8-2.

Quarterfinals: Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Mohd. Asim (Rlys) 8-6; Rafat Habib (Rlys) bt Mohd. Arshad (Kar) 8-3; S. Talwar (Chd) bt Dharmendra Lilly (Pun) 8-7; Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Harpreet Singh (Del) 8-3.

Pre-quarterfinals: Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Akhil Patel (Mah) 7-1; Mohd. Asim (Rlys) bt Karan Anand (Mah) 7-3; Rafat Habib (Rlys) bt D. Rajkumar (Kar) 6-0; Mohd. Arshad (Kar) bt A. Gulati (Dli) 7-6; S. Talwar (Chd) bt Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) 7-1; Dharmendra Lilly (Pun) bt Balaji Reddy (Kar) 7-1; Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 7-0; Harpreet Singh (Dli) bt Pranit (TN) 7-5.

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