Aditya Mehta (PSPB) defended his National snooker title here on Saturday.
A title-match with a high break of 80 — with two reds remaining — in the eighth frame saw him clinch the final set to 11 frames against Kamal Chawla in the Manisha National billiards and snooker championships.
Chawla showed courage, taking the first two frames but Mehta found his cue obeying his whims and began to pot with a high degree of consistency.
Mehta came back strongly, taking the third and fourth frames and from thereon there was no looking back for the PSPB cueist.
Ruthless efficiency
The gap only widened when Mehta started executing every shot with ruthless efficiency and his opponent was graceful enough to acknowledge the PSPB cueist's supremacy with the scoreboard of the eighth frame reading 80-2.
There were plenty of sympathisers for Chawla, who had played remarkable snooker right from the start till the final.
Mehta did not make any century plus breaks.
“I would rather win a match making consistent breaks of 70 than make century-breaks and lose the match.
“My body just gave away after I led 4-0 (against Shahbaz Adil Khan in the semifinals). It was surprising and disappointing to feel that way. I was mentally fine. But I think every sportsperson should experience such matches,'' said Mehta after his narrow 5-4 win against Adil Khan on Friday.
The results:
Final: Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Kamal Chawla (RSPB) 6-2 (2-60, 48-65, 72-49, 69-38, 80-9, 71-27, 67(58)-1, 80-2).
Positional matches: Shahbaz Adil Khan (PSPB) bt Brijesh Damani (WB) 3-1 (33-61, 76-21, 94(71)-7, 67-28); Lucky Vatnani (AP) bt Manan (PSPB) 2-0 (53(42)-45, 67-23); Himanshu Jain (AP) bt Siddharth (RSPB) 2-0 (63(40)-57, 64-24); Himanshu (AP) bt Vatnani 2-0 (65(43)-56 (47), 60-4); Manan (PSPB) bt Siddharth Parikh (RSPB) 2-1 (103(103)-0, 33-66, 73(60)-24).
Final standings:
1. Aditya, 2. Kamal, 3. Shahbaz , 4. Brijesh Damani, 5. Himanshu, 6. Vatnani, 7. Manan and 8. Siddharth.
