Arantxa Sanchis of Maharashtra clinched the bronze medal in the billiards event of the 26th Ladies National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2019 and played in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Maharashtra’s Arantxa won bronze in National billiards.
The left-handed Pune-based cueist Arantxa defeated Chitra Magimairaj of Karnataka 2-1 in the race to 75 points best of three frames third place match. The former IBSF World Women’s Billiards Championship in 2015 and twice National billiards champion (2012, 2015) was engaged in a keen tussle with Chitra and won a close first frame to take the lead. But, the Karnataka cueist Chitra fought back to narrowly win the second to level match scores and force the decider. In the third frame, Arantxa was a bit more consistent and managed to comfortably pocket the decisive final frame to complete a satisfying 75-62, 72-77 and 76-58 victory to secure her position as the third ranked player in the country.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Arantxa lost to eventual champion R. Umadevi of Karnataka 0-2 (73-75, 74-79). In the quarter-finals, Arantxa had defeated Varshaa Sanjeev of Karnataka 2-1 (24-52, 51-36, 50-16).
Results – Semi-finals: Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) lost R. Umadevi (Ktk) 0-2 (73-75, 74-79) ; Keerath Bhandaal (Del) beat Chitra Magimairaj (Ktk) 2-0 (76-57, 76-42).
Final: R. Umadevi (Ktk) beat Keerath Bhandaal (Del) 3-0 (75-51, 75-32, 75(50)-41).