Central Railway lad Faisal Khan proved too good for Chennai's Pranit Ramchandani when claiming the Atlas 9-ball Pool Tournament at the Islam Gymkhana on Friday. The winner for a London return ticket. In the semis Faisal beat Rafath Habib 11-8 while Pranit edged out Yasin Merchant 11-9 in a thriller.

Said Yasin a semi-finalist at the 8-ball Pool Nationals some time ago, "It was a fun event. But with small events like this the sport can get better. The spectators need to watch a dog-fight which today's final was not."

Earlier, Khan snatched a pulsating win from the jaws of defeat when he rallied from a 2-8 deficit to snare seven racks in a row and overcome Manish Jain of Kolkata 9-8 in the race-to-nine racks quarter-finals.

Pranit Ramchandani also was forced to come from behind after trailing 4-6 against the formidable Yasin Merchant. Merchant's form was envious but Pranit ignored the reputation of his much accomplished rival to draw level at 9-9. Pranit later capitalized on a series of errors by Merchant including those in the 19th and 20th racks and completed an abrupt finish with a plant.