Keerthana Pandian retains National 6-Red Snooker Championship title with 4-3 win

Keerthana Pandian of Karnataka retained her title at the National 6-Red Snooker Championship, defeating Anupama Ramachandran 4-3 in a closely contested final. In the men’s final, Dhvaj Haria triumphed over Pushpender Singh 6-3 to claim the crown

Hyderabad: In a match of small margins, Karnataka’s Keerthana Pandian held her nerve when needed to edge out the formidable Anupama Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu 4-3 and retain her title at the National 6-Red Snooker Championship in Dehradun late on Friday evening.

At the adjacent table, Dhvaj Haria, known for his billiards prowess, defeated Pushpender Singh of Railways 6-3 to clinch the men’s crown.

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In the battle between equals, Keerthana and Anupama split the first four frames of the best-of-seven frame final. The Karnataka cueist, the defending champion, came up with a break of 34 in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.

Anupama was not prepared to throw in the towel; she responded with a brilliant 45-break under pressure to take the match to the decider. Keerthana, confident and striking much better, played a percentage game.

She scored when she got the opportunity and resorted to safety when she lost position to keep Anupama on a tight leash. And aided by small breaks, Keerthana took the frame and the match 48-14.

“I’m very happy with the way I played,” said a delighted Keerthana.

Results: Men: Final: Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) bt Pushpender Singh (Rlys) 6-3 (72-0, 20-38, 55-14, 47-4, 39-38, 46-53, 42-29, 26-35, 48-14).

Third-place playoff: Digvijay Kadian (Har) bt Brijesh Damani (PSPB) 4-2.

Women: Final: Keerthana Pandian (Kar) bt Anupama Ramachandran (TN) 4-3 (22-33, 45-4, 31-18, 36-46, 58 (34) -16, 6-48 (45), 47-13).

Third-place playoff: Amee Kamani (MP) bt Ishika Shah (MP) 3-0.