A memorable gift for Pooja

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, FEB. 3. A perfect wedding anniversary gift for the Galundia family. Pooja Galundia could not have done it any better. Winning her third National women's snooker title was her way of celebrating it and she triumphed 62-49, 53-60, 54-30, 64- 33.

It was way back at the Bangalore Nationals in '89 that Pooja made her maiden appearance as a 13-year-old. Two years later, at the Jamshedpur Nationals she went all the way, and in the following Indore nationals she made it a creditable double - winning both the snooker and the billiards crown. In '95 Pooja lost to Heena in the final, again in Bangalore. And in more ways than one, this was a perfect revenge and the timing on this day made it all the more creditable.

Heena on a quite a few instances muffed `sitters,' for which Pooja waited for. Showing composure at crucial junctures, Pooja made it all count, although enroute she did flounder a bit. But an extended break after the third frame was just what she yearned for and came back blazing running up a 33-9 lead. Although two- foul strokes by Pooja did enable Heena bridge the gap, then Pooja was gifted seven points by a false stroke by Heena and the Rajasthan girl needed no further grace. Pooja followed the blue with the pink with a deft cut and Heena stood up to congratulate the champion.

Meenal Bhaiagi pulled off a 37-45, 66-27, 63-24 win over Farah Khan to finish a worthy third. Farah, with no safety play in her armoury, simply blew away her chances, especially in the third frame.

Pooja and Heena took contrasting routes to the final, in the morning. While Heena stopped the giant-killing streak of Meenal Bhairagi, also from Maharashtra, in three straight frames, Pooja, who rallied from 2-3 behind, pulled off a sensational victory over defending champion Farah Khan of Karnataka. Pooja won 42-45, 31-42, 50-34, 55-22, 67-10.

Heena's 38-36, 57-21, 45-16 verdict was on expected lines after Meenal, who looked palpably out of sorts today. Having stunned second seed Judith Walia in the quarterfinal's on Wednesday evening. Meenal was short of rhythm and confidence and with the ball too not rolling well for her, the dice was cast. Heena in her own methodical manner carved out a comfortable win.

However, at the adjacent table, Pooja seemed lost in the first two frames. But then her husband was to join her and she was looking out for him in the crowd. And once she saw him, there was a drastic transformation in her potting.

But by then the `gum chewing' Farah looking in good touch was up by two frames. In the third too, Farah virtually had the frame and the match in her pocket. Provided with an opening, Farah could have cleaned up the table, but as luck would have it for Pooja, the champion messed up with the `blue.' And it was blues thereafter for the local girl.

Pooja, who did not attempt anything out of the ordinary and instead went about her task of compiling points at a steady pace and soon enough had a handy lead in both the fourth and fifth frames. Try though Farah did to come back into the match, a few uncharacteristic misses spelt her doom. Pooja's precision potting won the day and quickly ran into the embracing arms of her mother-Renu Bharkatiya and husband.

``I was not in the game in the first two frames. But then on having spotted my husband, swiftly changed gears. Also a patchy Farah eased up the pressure,'' admitted the 25-year-old.

In the senior men's billiards, Varun Taneja of Railways downed Maharashtra's Arun Agarwal 554-497 to make it to the semifinals of the qualifying rounds, held alongside the women's event. Also making the grade were J.S. Dawar of Maharashtra, who beat an inconsistent D. Rajkumar of Karnataka, Ashok Shandilya (Railways) and Devang Shah (Maharashtra).

The former champion Shandilya struck a purple patch to snuff out the challenge from S.A. Saleem (TN) 748-438 while Devang Shah (Maharashtra) edged out Simachalam (Railways) 364- 345. Dawar won against Rajkumar at 551-469.

The results:

Women's snooker: (final): Pooja Galundia (Raj) bt Heena Khandelwal (Mah) 62-49, 53-60, 54-30, 64-33. Semifinals: Pooja Galundia (Raj) bt Farah Khan (Kar) 3-2 (42-45, 31-42, 50-34, 55- 22, 67-10); Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Meenal Bhairagi (Mah) 3-0 (38-36, 57-21, 45-16).

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