CHAMPION STUFF: PSPB's Manan Chandra, who won the snooker title at the National billiards and snooker championship in Chennai on Wednesday. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI: It was in this city that Manan Chandra won a junior National title five years ago. Chennai proved lucky again for this strapping 24-year old PSPB player, as he collected his maiden senior snooker title beating Pankaj Advani, also of PSPB, in a nail-biting 11-frame final of the LIC-BSNL National championship here on Wednesday. It was finally 6-4 in Manan's favour.

"I have been playing well and the big lead that I got in the frame score made me confident," said Manan, the three-time junior National snooker title winner on his latest triumph. Pankaj, on the other hand, rued that he "failed to get proper alignment" but conceded, "he (Manan) played well. It was not as though I gave the match to him."

The contest, spilling a little over three hours, was a fitting finale to the fortnight long cue-sport feast in the city as two talented players provided top quality fare. If Manan has remained in the background all this while, it was only because Pankaj has, thanks to his phenomenal runs in the championship, hogged the limelight.

The Delhi player, a snooker specialist, has been dismantling his opposition in his quiet, efficient way without conceding too much en route to the title round. What stood out was his awesome potting, from close to the pocket or long. He had the spectators applauding this ability time and again, and also rattled Pankaj in the final.

Good start

It was not a one-sided affair. In fact, it was Pankaj who began well with a break of 75 in the first frame and the Bangalore boy went on to win it without conceding a point. However, missing a red and conceding four points through an in-off of the cue-ball, Pankaj lost the momentum.

Manan is not one to miss an opportunity. With a break of 51, he pocketed the second frame, and caution and `safety play' crept in as the rivals treaded carefully in the third. Pankaj got an early break of 49 but Manan followed it with a 40. In the final moments when the colours needed to be cleared, Pankaj never floundered.

Suddenly, things changed dramatically and Manan grew in confidence while Pankaj was unable to find openings and his potting lost its sharpness. He was uncharacteristically tentative too. Manan's potting, slow to begin with, picked up considerably and he won four frames in a row to lead 5-2.

After winning the eighth frame and carving another remarkable 85-0 verdict, with breaks of 31 and 51 in the ninth, Pankaj looked like fighting back into the match. Once again in the battle of wits (read safety play), Pankaj erred. A black and a red miss by Pankaj was enough for Manan to take over and a brilliant long pot sent him on the final path to victory.

Ruthless

In the semifinals, Manan and Pankaj were merciless on their opponents, negotiating the colour balls and reeling off points with felicity. This left little for Sarang and Yasin to exploit. Consequently, the nine-frame contests that many had expected would go the distance fizzled out. Both matches witnessed a few notable breaks: Manan's best was a 69 in the second and Pankaj's 62 in the fourth.

The Managing Director of LIC (Mumbai), K. Sridhar, and General Manager BSNL, Subramaniam, gave away the prizes.

The results:

Final: Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 6-4 (0-97, 77-37, 57-69, 82-30, 78-33, 64-45, 100-1, 36-88, 0-85, 70-22).

Semifinals: Manan bt Sarang Shroff (Mah) 75-13, 107-26, 92-9, 69-35, 67-69, 72-23; Pankaj bt Yasin Merchant (Mah) 73-15, 68-19, 49-16, 87-2, 65-54.

For third place: Yasin bt Shroff 74-8, 64-38, 35-67, 109-1, 34-60, 71-8; Placings 5 to 8: Rafath Habib (TN) bt Siddharth Rao (TN) 77-22, 74-32; Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 64-8, 57-60, 65-40; Siddarth bt Shandilya 80-39, 53-48; Rafath bt Alok 71-65, 4-67, 64-32.

Final standings: 1. Manan Chandra, 2. Pankaj Advani, 3. Yasin Merchant, 4. Sarang Shroff, 5. Rafath Habib, 6. Alok Kumar, 7. Siddharth Rao and 8. Ashok Shandilya.

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