Pankaj Advani beats Aditya Mehta 6-3 to clinch national snooker title

Pankaj Advani defeated Aditya Mehta 6-3 to win his 11th national snooker title at the 92nd championship in Bahadurgarh. Advani’s 133 break and steady play sealed the crown despite Mehta’s spirited fightback in the middle frames

Hyderabad: Dominant Pankaj Advani overcame a late fightback from Aditya Mehta en route to his 11th national snooker title in the 92nd edition of the premier championship in Bahadurgarh (Haryana) on Sunday.

The defending champion played the big points well to emerge a worthy 6-3 winner in the final. After a slow start, Advani grew in confidence as the match wore on to take a firm grip over the proceedings. He came up with a sizzling break of 133 in the fifth frame for a 4-1 lead in the best of 11 frame title clash.

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However, Aditya, whose form deserted him after a gritty 51 clearance in the opening frame, dug into his reserves and fought back in fine fashion. He clinched the sixth and seventh frames with useful breaks to stay in the contest.

The Mumbaikar could have taken the eighth frame as well, but missed a regulation pink pot to the top left pocket when leading 57-50, allowing Advani back into the game. The champion from Bengaluru sank the pink and black to make it 5-3.

Advani played a percentage game on the day. He scored whenever he got the opportunity and resorted to safety when he lost position. Even in the ninth frame, he punished Aditya’s poor safety with an early break of 37 and then kept his rival under pressure.

Aditya too was equal to the task with a couple of clever safeties. But on one such safety, he got an unlucky cannon off the top cushion on the red and left Advani on with the reds scattered on the table when trailing 1-63. The former champion then walked across and congratulated Advani for his brilliant show.

Results:
Final: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Aditya Mehta (PSPB) 6-3 (30-67 (51), 70 (70)-38, 77-6, 75-38, 141 (133)-0, 0-121 (51, 70), 6-67, 63-57, 63-1).

Third place playoff: Ketan Chawla (MP) bt Laxman Rawat (PSPB) 4-3 (30-76, 8-66, 28-65, 70-53, 67-25, 47-39, 51-17).