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Billiards & Snooker
Alok cruises to his third National snooker title
By Kirti Patil
Punjab's Alok Kumar, who beat Delhi's Manan Chandra to claim the National snooker title for the third time, poses with the winner's trophy at Ahmedabad on Wednesday. - Photo: Paras Shah
AHMEDABAD, JAN. 23. Alok Kumar set aside his familiar orthodox style and played glorious snooker to capture his third career title, in the 68th National championship at the Sports Club of Gujarat here on Wednesday.
Playing like a man possessed, he blew away young contender Manan Chandra 7-2, winning 71-37, 105-0, 1-66, 75-4, 81-0, 42-54, 69-18, 79-6, 84-0 in the final.
He has had been to this position twice before, in 1992 and 1994, but the way Alok potted on Wednesday impressed one and all. Never before such a sight was presented when Alok was in action. ``This is the most satisfying win ever. It was the first time that I showed guts and went for the unthinkable angles. And, it came good,'' said Alok Kumar.
Not known to be much innovative, the versatile Punjab cueist showed that he can also play in a different league, the stuff that the champions are made of.
Fortifying his position with solid breaks, the 32-year-old Alok not only outclassed the Delhi youngster in tactics, but in potting. ``I knew that the only way to beat Manan was to go all out. He is a good potter and I had to outdo him in that department,'' said Alok and hinted at his desire to gradually phase himself out of active competition.
``I was desperate to play well and win. I wanted to make my score 3-3,'' Alok said of his six appearances in the National snooker finals. He also has to his credit National titles in billiards and pool winning in 1999 and 2001 respectively. ``Also, I have not done anything great internationally. So, I want to give myself a chance for next two years before quitting,'' he added.
Later, in the play-off for the third place, Ashok Shandilya defeated Antim Singhi 4-0 in an all-Railways clash. With ranking and a place in Asian Games team at the stake, Shandilya played to the plan and outclassed Singhi 68-22, 75-36, 57-49, 73-13.
Meanwhile, defending champion Pankaj Advani, Aditya Shah, Rishab Thakkar and Sourav Kothari made it to the final round of the junior National billiards championship, being played at the Ellisbridge Gymkhana here.
The four finalists emerged out of the 38-player draw, which was played on the knockout basis. The four-player final will be played on the league basis with the one with maximum wins to be crowned the champion. The league will be played on January 29 and 30.
The results:
Snooker: Final: Alok Kumar (Pun) bt Manan Chandra (Del) 71-37, 105-0, 1-66, 75-4, 81-0, 42-54, 69-18, 79-6, 84-0. Third place: Ashok Shandilya (Rly) bt Antim Singhi (Rly) 68-22, 75-36, 57-49, 73-13.
Junior billiards (fourth round): Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Farooq Ibrahim (AP) 959-352; Aditya Shah (Mah) bt Akram Khan (Ben) 408-340; Rishab Thakkar (Mah) bt Vishal Madan (Rly) 471-352; Sourav Kothari (Ben) bt Aditya Mehta (Mah) 514- 367.
Junior billiards (third round): Rishab Thakkar bt Pamin Shah (Guj) 532-345; Vishal Madan bt Karthik Ramaswamy (TN) 652-301; Sourav Kothari bt Charanjot Anand (J & K) 626-262; Aditya Mehta bt M. Rebello (Kar) 634-372.
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