NSCI Snooker: Ishpreet Chadha outsmarts Pankaj Advani in Baulkline final

Mumbai, May 12 (IANS) After many hours of anxiety and hope, India’s rising star in cue sport, Ishpreet Singh Chadha, scored a psychological and career-boosting 10 frames to 7 win against the tough-nut-to-crack Pankaj Advani in the final of the Rs 32 lakh prize money NSCI Baulkline 4.0 All-India Snooker tournament at the NSCI Dome here on Sunday.

Chadha, who has a near 53 percent win record in professional snooker, and Advani were going neck-to-neck almost right through the nine-hour match (with intervals), but in the end, Chadha prevailed to collect a cool Rs.5 lakh as prize money. Advani received Rs 2.5 lakh.

Multiple-time World Champion in Billiards and snooker, Advani enjoyed a superior potting success when leading 4-3, but Chadha intensified his potting skills and consistency, and after a no-holds-barred match, Chadha held a 238-237 balls-potted score. The only century break in the final was a 122 in the 16th by Advani, after which Chadha closed out the final, set to 19 frames, in the 17th.

Earlier, Advani positioned himself for the title with a facile 8-2 win against Himanshu Jain in the semifinals of the Rs 32 lakh prize money tournament. Advani cut loose with three century-plus breaks to dominate a match in which the vanquished Jain pinched two frames.

In the second semifinal, Ishpreet Singh Chadha got the better of Aditya Mehta to pull off a narrow 8-6 victory to set up a repeat of last year's final with Advani.

In the final, Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who scored the maximum break of 147, a rare occurrence in snooker in an earlier round, finally found success against Pankaj after losing two of their summit round meetings. He had lost 8-10 to Pankaj in last year's final and 6- 8 in the CCI Classic Snooker in March this year.

Result (final):

Ishpreet Singh Chadha bt Pankaj Advani 62-45, 4-77, 59-35, 7-65,68-12, 57-66, 19-60, 90 (90)-0, 33-70, 0-97(97),.99(94)-16, 75(67)-35, 75-27, 68-31, 83 (68)-10, 6-122(122), 73-72.

--IANS

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