In an epic tussle lasting nearly five hours, Sourav Kothari defeated Alok Kumar 17-152, 150-71, 104-151 (112), 151 (83)-56, 150 (110)-58, 147 (136)-151 (128), 151 (125)-81 to lift his maiden title in the National billiards championship here on Wednesday.
Notwithstanding the end result, the two cueists deserved admiration for their resilience and ability to withstand pressure. In the morning session, both had won four-hour semifinal duels to reach the final.
Having defeated Alok Kumar in the 2009 Nationals in Pune to take the third spot, Kothari knew that he had to maintain his composure against a never-say-die opponent.
Alok Kumar, the defending champion, seized the initiative by winning the first frame. He focused hard and collected the maximum of his points through potting. Two useful breaks of 62 and 56 helped Alok’s cause.
However, an unnerved Kothari shrugged off a potting mistake and scored an important break of 73 and fought back in style.
Kothari, leading 104-39 in the third, could not pot his cue ball and Alok banked on the opportunity to garner a break of 112 points.
Two healthy accumulations (68 and 83) and a blunder from Alok then helped Kothari go one frame up.
The Kolkata-based cueist was three points away from clinching the next frame. However, he missed an in-off and Alok grabbed the chance to win his third frame as well.
Kothari maintained his focus and scored a 125-point break in the seventh frame. “This is for my father (Manoj Kothari). He had won the world title, but never a National crown,” he said.
B. Bhaskar gave a solid performance to beat Dhruv Sitwala for the third place.
Other results:Third place: B. Bhaskar bt Dhruv Sitwala 100 (56)-23, 100 (100)-0, 81-100 (62), 0-101 (68), 100 (100)-0.
Semifinals: Kothari bt Sitwala 150-111, 93-151, 58-150, 151-38, 12-154, 150-120, 153-2; Alok Kumar bt Bhaskar 151-60, 125-152, 90-150, 05-152 (152), 150-30, 152-30, 152 (113)-13.
