Chitra captures maiden crown

Bangalore cueist outplays Neena

Karnataka’s Chitra Magimairaj captured her maiden National snooker championship title, defeating Tamil Nadu’s Neena Praveen 3-1 in the final here at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana on Saturday.

Chitra, who has faltered plenty of times on the big stage at the national scene, broke her title duck in style, downing Neena with a gritty display.

The Bangalore cueist took the opening frame 58-43 before opening up a 2-0 lead after pocketing the second 57-28. Neena, however, hit back by winning a hard-fought third 35-32. While many thought Chitra would succumb to the usual bout of nerves, she announced herself with a splendid 44-9 show to start the new season on a promising note.

Chitra had last year won the National 6-red snooker championship in Chandigarh. Karnataka’s R Umadevi Nagaraj, who lost 0-3 to Chitra in the quarterfinals, signed off fifth after breezing past Meenal Thakur 2-0, while young teenager Varsha Sanjeev finished eighth.

Results: Ladies: Snooker, final: Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) bt Neena Praveen (TN) 3-1 (58-43, 57-28, 32-35, 44-9).

Semifinals: Chitra M bt Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) 3-1 (65-15, 64-29, 48-64, 56-13); Neena P bt Keerath Bhandaal (Del) 3-2 (52-31, 36-62, 53-51, 47-58, 61-23).

Quarterfinals: Arantxa S bt Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) 3-0 (65-29, 54-47, 63-26); Chitra M bt R Umadevi Nagaraj (Kar) 3-0 (64-11, 18-59, 64-11, 84-15); Keerath B bt Heena Khandelwal (Mah) 3-0 (55-33, 53-15, 68-48); Neena P bt Meenal Thakur (Mah) 3-0 (48-11, 46-38, 60-15).

Placings: 5-6: R Umadevi bt Meenal T 2-0 (59-55, 67-47).

7-8: Heena K bt Varsha S 2-0 (45-34, 72-42).