Chitra Magimairaj's 11-year wait for a National title ended when she got the better of Tamil Nadu's Neena Praveen 3-1 in the women's snooker final of the Manisha National billiards & snooker championships on Saturday.
Chitra won 58-43, 57-28, 32-35, 44-9 in the final, which was set to five frames with a time-frame of 40 minutes each. In the semifinals, she shocked the top seed Arantxa Sanchis.
Chitra, who won the National 8-ball and 9-ball titles in 2005 and 2007 and the National 6-red snooker championship at Chandigarh last September, said she was delighted to finally clinch the National crown.
“Winning a National title is always special. I am weak in my safety shots and I want to improve in that area,” said Chitra.
Trailing by 10 points in the first frame, Chitra managed to close the gap and went on to take the lead. She took the first frame 58-43.
Though she lost the third frame narrowly, Chitra managed a 20-plus break to win the fourth frame and the title.
Other results: Women's snooker semifinals: M. Chitra (Kar) bt Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) 3-1 (65-15, 64-29, 48-64, 56-13); Neena Praveen (TN) bt Keerath Bhandaal (Del) 3-2 (52-31, 36-62, 53-51, 47-58, 61-23).
