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Nahar Group-MIG All India Invitational Snooker Championship 2009
MIG Cricket Club
Bandra - Mumbai - Maharashtra
10 January 2009 @ Mumbai (India)
Aditya enters final, awaits for
winner of Arun-Damani
report by: Pradeep
Vijayakar
India's
only professional Aditya Mehta lined himself up for the top prize of Rs. One
Lakh when beating Alok Kumar 5-1 in the Rs.3.10 Lakh Nahar Group MIG all-India
invitation snooker tournament at the MIG Cricket Club on Saturday. He plays in
the final the winner of the other semi-final between MS Arun and Rishab Damani
which will be played at eleven in the morning on Sunday. The final will be
played in the evening at five and will be telecast live on DD.
Karnataka lad MS Arun caused the biggest upset when ousting favourite Yasin Merchant by 5-3 frames to enter the semi-finals. Arun who had upset India # 3 Saurav Kothari on day one, played a steady game and was not afraid to go for his shots. That got him a 3-1 lead and a dose of confidence from national coach Sanjay Sawant who told him to "go for it, but not rush for it." Arun did lose a couple of frames but kept hold of his temperament to make a lasting impression on the connoisseurs.
With India No 2 Manan Chandra losing to Aditya Mehta the only one of India's top four to stay in the title hunt was India No 4 Rishab Damani who played perfect snooker to blank Rupesh Shah 5-0. The semis pitted Damani against Arun and Aditya against Alok.
At the Nationals the peculiar system of the draw caused young gun Aditya Mehta to run into champ Pankaj Advani as early as the last eight stage. At the MIG, Aditya met India No 2 Manan Chandra in the round of eight. It was a match that went to the decider and Aditya made most of the lapses of Manan to win 5-4 and make the semis. Said a relieved Aditya, the only Indian on the pro circuit: "He was shaky in the first two frames but later kept taking whatever I offered. Manan can pot from anywhere so playing safety with him one has to be spot on."
Another quarter-final that went to the wire was the one between the sticky Alok Kumar and Kamal Chawla. Chawla was down 1-3 and made it 3-all. In the seventh, Chawla had an in-off when he need pink and black. The foul gave Alok the advantage which he didn't relinquish. Said Alok: "Chawla played better snooker than me."