Laxman Rawat is champion

Laxman Rawat (second right) of Petroleum Sports Board receiving the winners trophy from S. Surendran (extreme right), Secretary of the Tamil Nadu All Districts Billiards and Snooker Association, at the S.S. Sports Academy in Erode on Tuesday night. K.S. Umakanth (extreme left), President of Erode District Billiards and Snooker Association and Faizal Khan of Railways, who finished for the second spot, is also seen. Photo:Special Arrangement.

Laxman Rawat of Petroleum Sports Board got the better of Faizal Khan of Railways 14-51, 65-24, 45-82, 55-42, 60-11, 1-54, 26-99, 66-43, 84-14 to emerge the champion of the eighth Chinthamani memorial open snooker tournament at the S.S. Sports Academy here on Tuesday.

Both players showed nerves of steel while sharing the first eight frames.

But Laxman raised his game in the ninth with a break of 45 and followed it up with a 60 break to seal the match in his favour.

Laxman and Faizal took home a cash purse of Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 30,000 respectively.

Brilliant comeback

In the semifinals, Faizal upset former India star Kamal Chawla 5-4. Down 1-4, Faizal staged a brilliant comeback to win five frames in a row for a place in the final.

Laxman, on the other hand, did not sweat much on his way to a 5-2 win over Girish of MIG.

S. Surendran, Secretary, Tamil Nadu All Districts Billiards and Snooker Association, gave away the prizes.

The scores: Final: Laxman Rawat (PSB) bt Faizal Khan (Rlys) 6-4.

Semifinals: Laxman Rawat bt Girish (MIG); Faizal Khan bt Kamal Chawla (Rlys) 5-4.