Meenal, who clinched the National 15-red snooker and billiards titles last November in Agra, was taken to the distance by Vidya but the Maharastrian clinched the marathon contest 41-3, 8-38, 31-37, 19-18, 54-4, 11-36, 10-26, 46-0, 41-12 at the KSBA Hall.
Under pressure after four-time National champion Vidya had raced to a 4-3 lead in the best-of-nine frames contest, Meenal staged a comeback with breaks of 19 and 12 to level the contest.
A hard crack at the bunch from Vidya offered Meenal a chance to open up a strong lead in the decider. Calm and composed, Meenal then swung the balance of the match in her favour with a break of 24.
Trailing 8-36, Vidya’s attempt to snooker Meenal resulted in her potting the brown before selling the blue on the next attempt. The champion gleefully accepted the gift by firing in the blue to lay her hands on the crystal trophy. “It feels good to hold the trophy,” said Meenal. “I did feel nervous after Vidya opened up a 4-3 lead but I told myself to calm down. In the end, it worked to stay composed.”
Results: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 5-4 (41-3, 8-38, 31-37, 19-18, 54-4, 11-36, 10-26, 46-0, 41-12).
Third-place play-off: Anuja Chandra (PSPB) bt Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) 3-0 (51-29, 35-29, 49-13).
Final standings: Meenal T 1; Vidya P 2; Anuja C 3; Chitra M 4; Arantxa Sanchis 5; Indira Gowda 6; Ashwini Puranik 7; Suniti Damani 8.
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