Pankaj, Manan clinch titles

By M.C. Raman

CHENNAI, FEB. 16. Pankaj Advani's effort to make it a grand double in the 25th Khel.com National junior billiards and snooker championships fell a bit short. The talented Karnataka boy retained the billiards title he won for the first time at Bangalore last year, but lost the battle for the snooker honours with Manan Chandra of Delhi, who regained the No. 1 spot he bagged in 1997 at Bangalore and again at Delhi in 1999.

In fact, Manan had won both junior billiards and snooker titles in 1999. On Friday, he was tense and it was written all over his face. He conceded a two-frame lead to Pankaj (1-3) and then fought his way to his third victory in the four- player summit league. Manan ended the league with a clean slate, beating Pankaj 32-64, 82-4, 34-65, 20-47, 79-31, 62-25, 52-30.

``I was under pressure because I had to win this match. But that 75 break in the fifth frame gave me tremendous confidence,'' said Manan after the match. Manan's burden increased as Rishab Thukral of Delhi, sensing he still had a chance of defending the title, wrapped up his tie against Siddharth Parekh of Maharashtra in straight frames (81-33, 65-30, 49-41, 64-16) at the adjacent table.

With two wins and one loss Rishab finished runner-up, Pankaj third and Siddharth fourth. Manan's 44 in the second was the only bright patch in the first four frames. Pankaj was not making waves either. But he kept his game going with some decent scores. In fact, he made two foul attempts in the fourth, but still managed to clinch it. At this point, the Delhi boy, who played his long shots so confidently later, was in real trouble. Pankaj started the fifth frame with a 23. However, the London-trained international this time nearly cleared the table with a 75. Then on it was Manan all the way.

``I wanted to win. But the way I started this match was not good. I had a 3-1 lead, but I was charged up too soon. Manan was brilliant when he picked up his game. In any case, Rishab had won in straight frames. So my victory would not have mattered. So no regrets,'' said Pankaj later. Manan took a 58-8 lead in the sixth to take the match to tie-breaker in which he recorded a break of 44 that shattered Pankaj's hope.

However, one saw a different Pankaj in the morning. His clash with Jai Ganesh in the early rounds of the billiards championship was a close one as the Karnataka boy just managed to win by about 60 points. But on Friday, it was a different story, though Pankaj did make an unimpressive start. Pankaj won 1081- 589, his third triumph in the summit league.

At half way stage, the international's lead was not substantial (444-329). In fact, Jai Ganesh of Tamil Nadu was more consistent. His breaks of 60, 51, 44 and 50 enabled him to keep pace with the defending champion and he was ahead by 100 points.

Until Pankaj managed that break of 94 he was uneasy. ``I did not have any problem as such. My mind was blank. I did not have a good start. Till I got that 94 I was struggling,'' said Pankaj.

That was the touch that the Karnataka star was waiting for. From then on his game accelerated. There were a series of impressive breaks - 87, 53, 111, 81 and 51. Jai Ganesh did not have a ghost of a chance as the gap enlarged to over 400 points.

Vishal Madan of Maharashtra, who rallied to beat Jaswinder Singh of Rajasthan at 739-481, finished runner-up in billiards with two wins and a loss. Jai Ganesh of Tamil Nadu came third and Jaswinder fourth.

Mr. C.J. Janardhanan of Sri Kumaran Stores distributed the prizes.

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