Alok Kumar wins National snooker crown

Petroleum Sports Promotion Board cueist Alok Kumar won the Senior National snooker title, defeating Rupesh Shah of Gujarat by six frames to five, at the Karnataka Snooker and Billiards Hall, in Bangalore, on Friday.

It turned out to be a clean sweep for PSPB, as Anuja Thakur won the corresponding title for ladies, blanking Vidya Pillai of Tamil Nadu 3-0 in the final.

Anuja thus completed a grand double, having won the billiards title, beating her sister Meenal Thakur, last week.

In a marathon eight-hour final, held over two sessions, Kumar, who had won the national title five times earlier, beat Shah 66-19, 59-05, 73-17, 52-60, 61-68, 10-66, 65-17, 60-35, 26-47, 43-83, 80-65.

Anuja won 79-37, 75-15, 69-33.

Kumar, a quarter-finalist at the World Snooker Championship, stormed to a 3-0 lead in the morning, but had to face stiff resistance from Shah, who bounced back to level frame scores at 3-3 and again rallied from a 3-5 deficit to draw level at 5-5.

However, Kumar the last laugh as he won the final frame with a timely break of 36. When the score in the decider was level at 63-all, Kumar had a lucky break after Shah committed four fouls. He finished off the game, clearing the pink, to emerge as the worthy winner.

''The tournament was really tiring. I should have wrapped up the game after leading 3-0 but I was too tired due to the tough schedule after I beat Pankaj Advani in the semis last night. The decider proved to be very tough as Rupesh was unrelenting. The fouls he committed in the fag end of the match gave me a breather," Shah said.

The 24-year-old Anuja said, 'It feels great to win two national titles in a single tournament.'

Results (finals):

Men: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Rupesh Shah (Gujarat) 6-5 [66(break of 44)-19, 59 (b-39)-05, 73-17, 52-60, 61-68, 10-66 (b-42) 65-17, 60-35, 26-47, 43-83 (b-37, 38), 80-65 (b-36)].

3rd and 4th place: Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Pankaj Advai (PSPB) 4-0 [64-35, 62-28, 68-10, 71-35 (b-47)].

Ladies: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Vidya Pillai (Tamil Nadu) 3-0 [79-37, 75-15, 69-33].

3rd and 4th place: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt M Chitra 2-0 [59-24, 49-40].

Semi-finals: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Meenal Thakur (Maharashtra) 3-0 [57-24, 67-51, 55-20] Vidya Pillai (Tamil Nadu) bt M Chitra (Karnataka) 3-2 [30-42, 61-41, 40-75, 47-08, 69-27].