Sourav Kothari retains billiards title with emotional win

Bahadurgarh (Haryana), Jan 24 (PTI) Encouraged by his family to compete at the premier National Championships soon after the passing of his father, Sourav Kothari produced a deeply emotional performance to retain the senior men's billiards title with a commanding 4-0 win over S Shrikrishna here on Saturday.

As he potted the red into the centre pocket in the fourth frame to seal victory, Sourav looked heavenwards and appeared to gesture that the triumph was dedicated to his late father Manoj Kothari.

Overcome by emotion, the champion broke down moments later.

Performing under extreme grief, the title would rank among Sourav’s most cherished achievements.

His father, a former IBSF world billiards champion, passed away on January 5, just days before the start of the championships.

Barring a few nervous moments with the tape in sight in the fourth frame of the best-of-seven final, Sourav was the dominant force throughout.

Shrikrishna, who recently played a key role in BPCL winning both the billiards and snooker team titles at the inter-unit PSPB tournament, struggled to find his rhythm on the day.

Sourav made full use of his rival’s errors, punishing a simple red in-off with a superb unfinished break of 142 to take the opening frame.

He followed it up with another unfinished effort of 138 in the second before a silken-smooth 150 in the third, which came after Shrikrishna broke down on 95.

The fluency deserted Sourav somewhat in the fourth frame as he offered Shrikrishna several openings to mount a comeback, but the latter endured a poor day at the office. Sourav eventually wrapped up the contest with a series of small but decisive breaks to clinch the title.

Third title for Sancheti ================ Earlier in the day, promising Aarav Sancheti of Maharashtra retained the sub-junior boys’ snooker title, clinching his third crown in as many days.

The 15-year-old from Pune registered a one-sided 3-0 victory over Owais Khan of Madhya Pradesh.

Having already won the junior snooker and sub-junior billiards titles, Sancheti will now look to complete a remarkable haul by adding the junior billiards crown on Sunday. PTI APS APS DDV