After being 0-2 down, defending champion Aditya Mehta rallied to win six frames in-a-row and beat IBSF World No 3 Kamal Chawla 6-2 in the 78th National Snooker championship final at PYC Hindu Gymkhana here on Saturday.
The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) cueist took his chances when Chawla missed possible pots. Mehta crawled his way back into the match to take the next six frames in four hours.
Railways cueist Chawla, who was playing his maiden national snooker final, got off to a confident start. He kept earning small but crucial breaks to take the first frame 60-2 and the second 65-48 before the hard work began.
And soon, the frames were tied 2-2. It was Mehta, who showed better composure as he held his nerves well to march ahead frame by frame before a break of 80 in the eighth frame. On the other hand, Chawla watched the game slipping away.
Mehta said, “Initially I was under pressure as he has beaten me more times than I have beaten him. It was my mistakes, which helped him to win first two frames. After that I executed my plan well. I was pretty sure what I wanted to do and I did exactly the same.”
Results: (Final) Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Kamal Chawla (Rlys) 6- 2 (2-60 48-65 72-49 69-38 80-9 71-27 67 (58)-1 80(80)-0).
(3-4 position) Shahbaaz Khan (PSPB) bt Brijesh Damani (WB) 3-1 (33-61, 76-21, 94 (71)-7, 67-28)
Comments