Sport
-
Billiards & Snooker
Uma Devi corners glory
By Kirti Patil
Uma Devi of Karnataka, who emerged champion in the 10th National women's billiards championship at Ahmedabad on Wednesday. - Photo: Paras Shah
AHMEDABAD, JAN. 9. An unassuming Uma Devi scripted the biggest win of her career by defeating Chitra M. 3-1 to claim the women's National billiards title in an all-Karnataka final at the Ellisbridge Gymkhana here on Wednesday.
Against the background of Tuesday's back-to-back draining contests, Uma played more freely. Her confidence level too was high. Though the match never rose to the expected heights, it was an entertaining duel.
Uma, the losing finalist of the 1999 Delhi Nationals, made amends this time and won 50-43, 42-50, 50-35, 51-21, against one of the most methodical player among the women's cueists.
``I'm thrilled with the win. It's a dramatic feeling to be the number one player in the country,'' said an elated Uma. ``I was hoping to win the final after going through two difficult matches yesterday.''
Tuesday's nine eventful games had helped Uma grow in confidence. She opened with a break of 14, red-potting thrice at the top of the table. She led 36-16 when Chitra came up with a break of 19 to make the contest lively. Another crucial break of 11 placed Uma firmly in the first game which she won 50-43 despite Chitra made desperate attempts to get even.
Big breaks for Chitra came a little too late. With Uma's self-assurance at a different pedestal, it required extra concentration on the part of Chitra. Uma almost made it a one- sided contest when she took 42-23 lead in the second.
But Chitra, whose earlier best have been quarterfinal showings, rode on a combination of a six-pointer, two canons and regulation red pots for a stunning unfinished break of 27. With scores level, both the players resorted to safety play.
Both the players were level 22-22 in the third when Uma cannoned four times. She had a break of 19 to break free and left very little chance for Chitra to recover. With 2-1 up, Uma ran through the fourth game in a jiffy. She first led 23-4 and then 38-19 before finally closing the game at 50-21. ``It was too much of a cat and mouse game,'' Chitra commented on the format of best-of-five of 50 points each. ``The games should have been played on time format. This format brings a little bit of luck into it,'' Chitra added.
In the play-off for the third place, Meenal Thakur of Maharashtra crushed Sri Devi with amazing speed-game. She won 50- 29, 50-43.
The 10th National women's snooker championship commenced later in the day and most of the matches went on the expected lines. The Group `C' preliminary league match between Meenal and Seema G. of Tamil Nadu was, however, a worthy contest. Playing immediately after the billiards match, Meenal took some time to get used to snooker. She lost the first frame 33-68, but rallied to win the next two 80-46 and 61-46.
The results: Billiards: final: Uma Devi R. (Kar) bt Chitra M. (Kar) 50-43, 42-50, 50-35, 51-21.
Third place play-off: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Sri Devi T. V. (Kar) 50-29, 50-43.
Snooker (preliminary league): Group A: Soumini S. (TN) w/o Amrita Mohapatra (Ori); Group B: Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Cynthia Mukherjee (Ben) 54-32, 48- 7; Group C: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Seema G. (TN) 33-68, 80-46, 61-46; Group D: Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Neena B. (TN) 67-44, 49-30; Group E: Seema Desai (Ben) bt Lavanya (TN) 60-25, 63-28; Group F: Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Renu Bharkatiya (MP) 6821, 32-58, 62-38; Group G: Kamala C. Babu (TN) bt Mehjabeen Raza (AP) 58-32, 70-33; Group H: Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Saranya (TN) 62-17, 60-5; Shereen Bano (AP) bt Saranya (TN) 35- 49, 85-64, 50-41.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Sport
|
