BAHADURGARH (HARYANA): Encouraged by his family members to compete at the premier National Championships soon after the passing of his father Manoj Kothari, Sourav Kothari scored an emotional 4-0 win over S Shrikrishna in the final to retain his billiards title here on Saturday. After potting the red to the centre pocket in the fourth frame to signal victory, Sourav looked heavenwards and seemed to gesture ‘this one was for you dad’.
Performed under extreme grief, this success will be considered one of his cherished titles. Sourav’s father, a former IBSF world billiards champion, passed away on January 5, a few days before the start of the premier championships.
Barring a few misses with the tape in sight in the fourth frame of the best-of-seven-frame final, Sourav was the dominant player on the day. Shrikrishna, who played a key role in BPCL winning both the billiards and snooker team titles in the inter-unit PSPB tournament recently, failed to come to the party.
That seemed to suit Sourav fine as he punished his rival’s simple red in-off error with a brilliant 142 unfinished break to go up 1-0. He followed that up with a 138 unfinished break in the next and a silken-smooth 150 flowed from his cue in the third following Shrikrishna’s error after a break of 95.
For some strange reason, the same fluidity was missing in Sourav’s game in the fourth as he gave Shrikrishna plenty of chances to force his way back in. Fortunately for him, his rival had a poor day in the office. Sourav ended his rival’s ordeal with miniscule breaks and then broke down following the emotional triumph.
Third title for Aarav
Earlier in the day, promising Aarav Sancheti from Maharashtra retained his sub-junior boys’ snooker title, his third crown in as many days. The 15-year-old from Pune scored a lopsided 3-0 win over Owais Khan of Madhya Pradesh.
Sancheti, who had earlier won the junior snooker and sub-junior billiards titles, will hope to add a fourth — junior billiards title — on the morrow.
Results: Senior men: Billiards: Final: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt S Shrikrishna (PSPB) 4-0 (151 (142unf.) -0, 150 (138unf.) -2, 150 (150) -103 (92), 150-124 (72).
Third-place playoff: Rayaan Razmi (Mah) bt Siddharth Parikh (RPSB) 3-1.
Semis: Kothari bt Razmi 4-2 (0-152, 150-0, 94-151, 151-15, 150-118, 150-77); Shrikrishna bt Parikh 4-0 (152-2, 150-28, 154-128, 151-39).
Final standings: 1. Sourav Kothari; 2. S Shrikrishna; 3. Rayaan Razmi; 4. Siddharth Parikh; 5. Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB); 6. Brijesh Damani (PSPB); 7. Rishabh Thakkar (Mah); 8. Dhvaj Haria (PSPB).
Sub-junior boys: Snooker (Final): Aarav Sancheti (Mah) bt Owais Khan (MP) 3-0 (80-27, 88 (88) -0, 74-26).