Brijesh Damani falls short in world snooker final

Brijesh Damani narrowly lost 3-4 to Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif in the IBSF Masters final, while Kamal Chawla and young Indian cueists recorded wins in other ongoing snooker events

Hyderabad: India’s Brijesh Damani faltered with the tape in sight, going down 3-4 to Pakistan’s Muhammad Asif in the Masters final of the IBSF World Snooker Championships in Manama (Bahrain) late on Friday.

Coming off a fine triumph at the Asian Team Snooker Championship last month in Colombo, Damani seemed to carry that form into the Worlds. However, in a finale that could have gone either way (3-3) in the best-of-seven-frame encounter, the Indian missed a sitter red in the decider to the top right-hand pocket, letting Asif off the hook.

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The Pakistani cueist, the reigning IBSF world champion (15-red), was off the chair in a jiffy and constructed a brilliant break of 40 under pressure to add another crown to his growing collection of major titles.

On Saturday, India’s Kamal Chawla began his 6-red snooker title defence with a 4-2 win over Bahrain’s Jaafar Alraees in Group ‘A’.

The bespectacled pro from Bhopal jumped to a quick 2-0 lead, but lapses in concentration allowed the Bahraini to force his way into the best-of-seven-frame league clash. However, the 45-year-old Indian recovered quickly to register a comfortable victory.

In the U-21 category, Bengaluru-based Mayank Karthik, Aarav Sancheti and Mayur Garg posted wins in their respective groups.

Results (Indians unless mentioned):
Masters (Final): Muhammad Asif (Pak) bt Brijesh Damani 4-3 (98 (87)-37, 75-55, 0-80 (51), 40-52, 41-64, 91-29, 78 (40)-9).
Under-17 (Final): Muhammad Hasnain (Pak) bt Riley Powell (Wal) 4-0 (86-7, 73-35, 50-31, 98 (67)-4).