Mumbai :: 21.May.2014

Chawla wins CCI Classic Snooker

India No. 2 Kamal Chawla subdued India No. 5 Faisal Khan to win the snooker title, in the CCI Classic Billiards & Snooker Tournament 2014 here in CCI Club, Mumbai

Chawla avenged his defeat at the Dadar Club-Matunga Gymkhana final against Khan as he romped to a 7-4 victory in the best-of-13 frames championship round, after leading 4-0, that earned him the winner’s prize of Rupees One Lakh, while Khan received Rs.60,000.

Khan, who shocked favourite Aditya Mehta in the quarter-finals, ignored the huge and early deficit and initiated a brilliant comeback midway when he snatched three frames in a row to set the stage for a cliffhanger. But a brilliant break of 73 in the crucial eighth frame gave the more experienced Chawla a 5-3 advantage.

The never-say-die Khan held on to narrow the margin to 4-5 that set the contest alight until Chawla fired a 44 in the 10th frame and wrapped up the following frame and match as Khan struggled to wriggle out of tight situations.

"After enjoying that big lead, I missed three safety shots that allowed Faisal to get back," explained Chawla. "He's a good player and capitalised on his chances whenever possible. But I stuck to my plan and played crucial balls well."

"I was never under pressure, but today the balls unfortunately did not roll in my favour," reasoned Khan. "I missed a sitter blue in the (crucial) eighth frame which I could have won. But Kamal played well and deserved to be the victor."

Earlier, Chawla and Khan registered contrasting semi-final wins. While Khan demolished Delhi based Pushpender Singh of Railways 5-0 in the best-of-nine frames contest, Chawla overcame Sourav Kothari of PSPB 5-3 in a tight second semi-final.

Chawla led 2-1 after dropping the opening frame that included a brilliant 89 break in the third frame in reply to Kothari’s 76 in the first. He went ahead 3-2 but Kothari drew level to set the stage for a humdinger.

But Chawla capitalised on small but crucial leads in the seventh and eighth frames that left Kothari little room for recovery and a closer finish.
 

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