Damani, Arora
in final
20.12.2014
Brijesh Damani
Brijesh Damani of IOC and Shivam Arora of
Bihar registered contrasting wins to set up the title clash, in the Rs.
1.89 lakh NSCI All India 9-Ball Open Pool tournament.
While the former national 6-Red champion, Arora overcame Siddharth
Parikh of Railways 9-3, Indian Oil’s Damani, the 2009 Otters Club 9-Ball
runner-up, rallied from 4-6 to halt Altamash Saifi of Delhi in a 9-7
thriller.
Saifi squandered a 2-0 and 6-4 lead as Damani snatched four racks in a
row to surge ahead 8-6. Saifi made it 7-8 to keep his hopes alive and
came within a whisker of drawing level when he potted the 9 but endured
an unfortunate in-off that ended his dream run.
Earlier, in an equally exciting quarter-final, another Delhi cueist
Avinash Kumar of Uttamnagar, rallied brilliantly from 2-5 to take a 7-5
advantage against Arora. Kumar was a rack away from storming into the
semi-finals when Arora snatched three racks in a row to end the former’s
campaign. Crunch
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