The Hindu : Sport : Shabaaz is junior National billiards champion

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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Shabaaz is junior National billiards champion

V.V. Subrahmanyam

— Photo: H. Satish

TRIUMPHANT: Shabaaz Adil Khan, who won the junior National billiards title on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: It was a day to remember for Shabaaz Adil Khan of Kolkata.

The 18-year-old retained the junior billiards title in style with an emphatic 992-455 win over Manish Jain in three hours in the crucial final round-robin league match of the National billiards and snooker championship for seniors, juniors and sub-juniors at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday. Manish finished second. Aditya Agarwal got the better of Kunal Agarwal 724-546 to settle for the third place despite the latter recording the highest break of 84 in the juniors billiards.

Methodical display

It was a methodical display by Shabaaz as he stuck to the basics and did not try anything flamboyant. Playing to his strength, Shabaaz struck form when it mattered and was just too good for the opponent.

“I don’t think I had done anything special. I just played my natural game as advised by Devendra Joshi,” he said after his title-triumph.

“It is always a great feeling to be the National champion and winning it second time in a row is something special,” Shabaaz said.

Giving the credit to his mentor S.T. Bhutia, Shabaaz said his next target would be the seniors snooker. Clearly, his simple strategy of playing the waiting game to perfection paid handsome dividends.

In the seniors snooker, Tamil Nadu’s Rajasekar Girish shocked two-time National champion Sarang Shroff with a 61-45, 62-33, 33-66, 64-7 victory.

Another surprise victory came from Divya Sharma of Haryana, who downed fancied Saurav Kothari of PSPB in five fully extended frames 16-57, 46-83, 58-52, 60-25, 49-42. Saurav did have a chance on the black ball in the decider, but failed to rise to the occasion which saw the opponent capitalise on the offering.

The results:

Seniors: Snooker: Main draw: Geeth Sethi bt Vishal Abrol 77-45, 85-19, 85-0; Brijesh Damani bt Anish Parikh 54-30, 56-29, 67-28; M.S. Arun bt Harris Merchandani 40-65, 65-49, 78-17, 62-49; Divya Sharma bt Sourav Kothari 16-57, 46-83, 58-52, 60-25, 49-42; Sajan Bopanna bt S.A. Saleem 60-16, 61-41, 56-27; Aditya Mehta bt Vivek Sharma 56-25, 68-08, 56-16; Lucky Vatnani bt Varun Kumar 70-10, 69-23, 45-26; Jaya Krishna bt Clawin d’ Souza 59-56, 51-17, 48-40; A.S. Kholi bt S. Dilip Kumar 50-43, 47-67, 52-38, 71-16; Nadeem Ahmed bt Amit Saboo 51-35, 59-41, 58-52.

Aashish Lunawat bt Aditya Deshpande 73-48, 52-17, 58-38; C. Druv bt K. Neeraj 53-40, 66-57, 47-29; Anuj Bhargava bt Nikil 59-39, 26-61, 62-41, 65-48; David Bose bt A. Hawali Wala 75-61, 53-37, 57-31; Rishabh Pandya bt Jigme Wangdue 57-13, 63-10, 85-25; Rajeev bt Subrat Das 68-31, 53-7, 60-36.

Rafat Habib bt Sarad Pradhan 77-23, 66-25, 79-18; K. Someshwar Rao bt V. Kumar 48-15, 42-56, 30-56, 70-17, 53-33; Mihirvora bt Rishi Das 51-79, 76-38, 61-27, 55-25; Shoaib Khan bt V. Ranjit 62-6, 63-21, 46-31.

Imrat bt Talaha. A. Mujadday 78-28, 49-24, 60-20; Antim Singh bt V. Raunak 54-46, 62-19, 61-24; Tarun Raj bt S.P. Pattanaik 69-58, 54-23, 53-32.

Juniors: Snooker: Qualifying: Himanshu Jain bt Rahul Narang 51-26, 24-57, 51-43, 62-35.

Billiards (final round): Aditya Agarwal bt Kunal Agarwal 724-546; Shabaaz Adil Khan bt Manish Jain 992-455.

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