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ONGC triumphs in Inter-Petroleum tournament
 

 

Not many tournaments in India can boast of a more competitive line-up than the PSPB inter-petroleum tournament. With the cream of Indian cue sports fighting to establish their company's supremacy, the tournament witnesses high quality matches year after year.

 

After suffering a defeat earlier this year in March to BPCL in billiards and to IOC in snooker, the power-packed ONGC got back to winning ways with a clean sweep of team titles in both billiards and snooker. They trio of Pankaj Advani, Alok Kumar and Sourav Kothari lifted ONGC to its first title courtesy a 2-1 over BPCL and later beat IOC to collect the snooker team title. BPCL cueist Manan Chandra was named the player of the tournament (snooker).

 

"ONGC is a close-knit group. Our company has been really supportive and we wanted to win the title for them. It was a wake up call for us when lost earlier this year. We were determined to win and it feels good that we won both the titles," said Sourav Kothari about the win.

 

The consistent Bengal cueist admitted the pressure to win back the title was high. "This shorter format of the tournament makes it very competitive in nature. With majority of the top Indian cueists putting in their best efforts, there is not much scope for errors here The pressure is tremendous, I would say it is as high as any international tournament."

 

Admitting that pressure is huge in such tournaments Dhruv Sitwala, a member of the ONGC team said, "Winning this tournament is a player's way to earn glory for the company. The pressure in such a tournament is twice as normal as a cueist is playing for the company and also the team. The points earned in this tournament add up to the company's profile and helps in winning the overall ranking for our company in PSPB which is decided at the end of the year."

 

Kothari, who was named the player of the tournament (Billiards), was happy to have made a successful transition from snooker to billiards. "It has been a great year for me as I made it to six finals and won three tournaments. The man of the tournament award has given me immense confidence ahead of the World Billiards Championship. I have been training extremely hard and putting in loads of hard work to perform well in both snooker and billiards. I feel I am on the right track."

 

He credited his father (National Coach, Manoj Kothari) for his all-round support and guidance. "My father has been with ONGC for a long time as coach and co-coordinator. He is one stop shop for any of our needs. His knowledge about the game is enormous."

 

New Delhi :: 10 October 2012

 

 

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Last modified: Wednesday October 10, 2012 16:48:51 +0530