The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Rafath lifts title

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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Rafath lifts title

Chennai: Rafath Habib recovered from a two-frame deficit to beat Varun Kumar 5-2 in the nine-frame final of the CAMS Open snooker tournament here on Saturday.

Rafath’s win denied his opponent a double in this event — Varun won the CAMS billiards title last week.

With Rafath experiencing a slightly scratchy start, early breaks of 25 and 34 in the first two frames were enough to give Varun a 2-0 lead.

Rafath, the snooker doubles gold medallist at the Busan Asian Games, replied with an early 48 break in the third. His next two visits to the table yielded breaks of 22 and 42, and the frame ended 112-0. The next frame again saw limited involvement from Varun, who watched Rafath rattle off an 82, the highest break of the tournament, to take the next one 91-0 and draw level.

A 42 in the fifth and a 50 in the sixth gave the now rampant Rafath a 4-2 lead. Having seen his early advantage come to nothing, Varun’s composure began to desert him. Given openings in the seventh frame, Varun missed straightforward reds while ahead 14-9 and 21-9. The pressure completely off him, Rafath posted a 39 to put the issue beyond doubt, winning the final frame 63-21 and with it the title.

The results: Final: Rafath Habib bt Varun Kumar 47-78, 35-68, 112-0, 91-0, 63-49, 86-16, 63-21. Semifinals: Rafath Habib bt Nigel Lazer 76-14, 55-56, 62-7, 79-41, 63-28; Varun Kumar bt R. Girish 62-15, 44-50, 20-102, 59-54, 65-36, 71-40.

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