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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