Varsha emerges champ

In a battle of attrition with neither willing to take chances, Keerath topped with a break of 13 against 12 by Varsha. But the Karnataka girl, however, played smartly and occupied the table, eventually beating the clock and her opponent.

In the semifinals, Varsha defeated I Lahari of Andhra Pradesh 121-117 after a massive struggle, while Keerath overcame Sania Arif of Chandigarh 99-74 in much smoother fashion.

“It feels really good to have won the title,” said Varsha, who won the Junior billiards crown last year in Pune. “After Keerath took a 30-point lead I thought the match was gone. In three attempts I was not able garner a single point.

“But, I never gave up. I just wanted to stitch together small breaks of 20-25 and take it from there. Thankfully, it worked according to the plans,” added Varsha, who will be competing in all the events this Natioanls.

Results (Quarterfinals): Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) bt P Esther Buela (AP) 148-70; Saniya Arif (Chd) bt Arya Pimpale (Mah) 122-74; Keerat Bhandal (Del) bt Niharika (Raj) 155-60; I Lahari (AP) w/o Saloni Bagga (Mah).

Pre-quarterfinals: Ashutosh Pandey (Ori) bt Abhinav Kripalu (Mah) 253-149; Dhuvaj Haria (Guj) bt Mark Menezes (UP) 214-112; Utsav Ramani (Guj) bt Rohan Mohanthy (TN) 242-151; Dushtyant Srivastha (TN) bt Kushal VR (Kar) 116-112; Jagadesh (TN) bt Harsh Vardhan Goenka (WB) 252-70; Jaiveer Dhingara (Mah) bt Hasneet Singh (Har) 234-155; Lakshman M (Kar) bt Malkeet Singh (UP) 195-194.