Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Merchant loses in final

Karachi: Thailand's Supoj Saenia swamped India's Yasin Merchant 7-0 to win the 23rd Asian snooker championship title here on Sunday.

Merchant, who had won the championship in 1989 and 1991, could do little as the Thai youngster completely dominated the best of 13 frames final. Saenia won 77-26, 69-68, 78-60, 63-29, 59-26, 64-52, 99-26.

``I was never confident of winning the title because the field has improved a lot with the emergence of these young players. But to come into the final and lose like this is disappointing,'' Merchant said.

``I know I have disappointed a lot of my fans in Pakistan. Some of the frames could have gone either way,'' he said.

Saenia said he knew he had to take a grip on the final early by discarding a safety approach and going for difficult shots. ``I think I succeeded in that and my potting today was very good.''

Merchant put up a close fight in some of the early frames but lapsed at crucial times and was unable to pot the required colours. — PTI

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