Tournament

FINAL DAY AT INDORE

Aditya Mehta, before he could settle in his chair, leapt on the voluptuous red and colours to execute a run of 112 to open the account with a bang. Aditya recovered and made it 1-1. Manan Chandra in full flow is a treat to watch. He used to rattle his opponent with sheer speed but not Aditya. He was biding his time as he knew sooner or later Manan will crack.

Manan added more misery to Aditya when he made a majestic 72 to lead 2-1. Aditya inched his way, making small contributions than go behind the baulk line. He wa splaying percentage snooker without taking an iota of a chance to make it 2-2.

Aditya needed two snookers on the yellow ball. He made nine perfect snookers. It was to Manan’s credit that he broke all of them with aplomb to lead 72-49. But Aditya was unruffled as he knew Manan’s game. “It was a battle. I didn’t expect him to come out firing that well after the first frame. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy but I played the waiting game,” said Mehta.

Then a break of 40 minutes was announced which acted as an elixir to the champion. He was slowly coming into his groove to take a vice-like grip on Manan. The break of 128 was compiled with utmost caution, waving his cue like a scimitar and even jumping at a time with all his histrionics. He compiled a mammoth break of 128 which is the highest in this year’s Nationals.

The ninth frame was a mere formality as Manan resigned to his fate. . “It was the most dominant Nationals I have played in. It was solid snooker and tactically very good,” added Mehta.

When I asked Aditya in Kolkata early this year that he should give his entry in the Nationals he replied, “I have nothing to prove.” But I told him he had to beat Pankaj Advani. After the match he replied that if Advani chose not to play in this Nationals what could I do? :In any case, he was in poor form having lost in billiards to Siddharth Parikh. There is every possibility that he could have made his exit in the snooker Nationals.”

Young Ishpreet Chadha finally broke his milk teeth to reach the semifinals against Manan. The young sikh could not make any breaks and headway against a rampaging Chandra. Though Manan was comfortable he was complaining about the kick which he occurred on several occasions. The referee had a torrid time to clean the balls. Even the throw off the cushion was not even. He did not complain about the table which was first class but due to the Indore weather, hotter in recent days, and to cap it all there was no air conditioning in the playing arena, resulting in all this.

Though Aditya Mehta won 5-1 but the match was closer than the records suggest. Aditya won two frames on the black and the other on the pink. This augurs well for the Delhi boy who up a sterling show in the Nationals.

Vidya Pillai won her ninth nationals when she beat defending champion Amee Kamani in the snooker final after a tense contest. “My experience helped me a lot,” said Vidya. Though Amee was potting was as clean as a whistle and won her the highest break prize but she lost her rhythm and the experienced Vidya won the day.

The Madhya Pradesh Sports Minister Maharani Yashodhara Raje Scindia gave away the prizes to the winners.

 

The Results:

Men’s snooker (Final): Aditya Mehta bt Manand Chandra 6-3 (0-112, 72-35, 8-73, 84-7, 49-72, 74-19, 72-33, 128-1, 83-39);

Semifinals : Chandra bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5-2; Mehta bt Sandeep Gulati 5-1.

Women billiards (Final): Keerath Bhandaal bt Aranxta Sanchis 3-1 (77-51, 54-75, 76-35, 75-73).

Women snooker (Final): Vidya Pillai bt Amee Kamani 4-2 (36-78, 73-37, 71-35, 0-88, 62-23, 59-32).