Vidya Pillai of Karnataka and S. Shrikrinhna of PSPB scored contrasting victories and emerged champions winning the ladies’ and men’s 6-Red snooker crowns in the Sage-National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2021 and played at the Sage University Campus, Bhopal on Friday.
Vidya Pillai
The experienced Vidya and her compatriot Varsha Sanjeev were engaged in a tense and thrilling contest for supremacy in the ladies’ final. In a match of fluctuating fortunes, Vidya trailed 1-3 but she produced a strong late fighting performance and won the last two frames to clinch a nerve-wracking 4-3 (29-18, 19-31, 03-32, 33-29, 10-26, 26-07, and 42-00) victory.
S. Shrikrishna (TN)
The men’s summit round clash turned out to be a lop-sided contest as the 21-year-old Tamil Nadu youngster Shrikrishna who was facing off against the highly experienced 40-year-old Manan Chandra showed no signs of nerves and potted confidently and consistently to take control and quickly raced to a 5-0 lead before closing out the match with a 6-1 demolition of his senior opponent.
The Chennai-based Shrikrishna after taking the opening frame uncorked a neat 69-point break in the second and later rolled in a 71-point effort in fourth and followed it by comfortably winning the fifth to sit pretty with a healthy lead.
Manan managed to deny Shrikrinhna from completing a clean sweep by pocketing the sixth frame. But, Shrikrishna managed to narrowly win the next two frames to complete a sensational 49-10, 69(69)-00, 50-04, 71(71)-00, 48-08, 02-58, 33-24, and 33-28 victory and emerge champion.
Results:
Ladies 6-Red snooker – Semi-finals: Vidya Pillai (KAR) beat Anupama Ramachandran (TN) 4-3; Varsha Sanjeev (KAR) beat Chitra Magimairaj (KAR) 4-0.
Final: Vidya Pillai (KAR) beat Varsha Sanjeev (KAR) 4-3 (29-18, 19-31, 03-32, 33-29, 10-26, 26-07, 42-00.
Men’s 6-Red snooker – Semi-finals: Manan Chandra (PSPB) beat Himanshu Jain (TEL) 6-5 (52-12, 25-13, 12-29, 00-50, 08-47, 16-29, 30-14, 51-22, 27-38, 39-22, 49-00);
S. Shrikrishna (PSPB) beat Vijay Nichani (TN) 6-4 (03-32, 55-00, 32-18, 21-34, 03-33, 53-00, 40-06, 42-09, 24-33, 58-00).
Final: S. Shrikrinshna (PSPB) beat Manan Chandra (PSPB) 6-1 (49-10, 69(69)-00, 50-04, 71(71)-00, 48-08, 02-58, 33-24, 33-28).