Umadevi triumphant

R Umadevi Nagaraj overcame a mid-match loss in concentration to outlast fellow Karnataka cueist Chitra M 3-1 and reign supreme in the women's National Billiards Championship here on Monday.

Chitra started the final on a positive note by conjuring a break of 40 points to announce her intentions. But that's all she could manage in the opening two frames as Umadevi dictated proceedings thereafter. The seasoned campaigner didn't post any major breaks but kept scoring several mini-breaks to take a 2-0 (76-51, 77-23) lead.

The players then broke for an  extended 45-minute interval. That seemed to interrupt Umadevi's rhythm while at the same time allowing Chitra to regroup. Chitra snatched a frame with a strong show in the third (76-31) and then pushed Umadevi to the limits in the fourth.

However, Umadevi held her composure, winning it  76-65 to secure her sixth National billiards title.

"I was not able to play my game in the third frame," said Umadevi. "I was too tired because of my age as well. I was also nervous. I missed so many easy shots and after a certain point, I even gave up. She (Chitra) gave me so many chances, but I could not make it. It was winning pressure, which made me nervous. However,  in the end I was happy to win my sixth title."    

Results:  Women: Billiards: Final: R Umadevi Nagaraj (Kar) bt Chitra M (Kar) 3-1 (76-51, 77-23, 31-76, 76-65).

Third place play-off: Keerath Bhandaal (Del) bt Varshaa Sanjeev (Kar) 3-1 (14-51, 50-19, 50-31).

Men: Snooker: Group A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Aditya Agarwal (Rlys) 3-0; Vishal Gundrecha (Guj) bt Tushar Shreshtha (Bih) 3-1.

Group B: Mukund Bharadia (Mah) bt KS Naveen Kumar (Kar) 3-2; E Pandurangaiah (Rlys) bt Peter Paul (Rlys) 3-2; E Pandurangaiah (Rlys) bt KS Naveen (Kar) 3-0.

Group C: Priyank Jaiswal (MP) bt Krishna B (Goa) 3-1; Shoaib Khan (Del) bt Malkeet Singh (Rlys) 3-2.

Group D: R Girish (Rlys) bt Harshit Verma (Ukd) 3-1; Sundeep Gulati (Del) bt Harish Gandhi (Chg) 3-1.

Group E: Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Harshit Modani (Raj) 3-0.

Group F: Anuj Bhargava (UP) bt Vybhav Mehra (Bih) 3-2.

Group G: Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Sunil Kumar (HP) 3-1.

Group H: Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt G Prabhu (TN) 3-1.

Group I: Lucky Vatnani (Tel) bt IH Manudev (Kar) 3-0; Johnson N (Guj) bt Md Raza (Odi) 3-0.

Group J: Digvijay Kadian (Har) bt Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) 3-1; Sahil Nayyar (Pun) bt SAhil Dora (Ukd) 3-0.

Group K: Sumit Talwar (Chd) bt Prakash Agrawal (Chg) 3-0; Anurag Giri (MP) bt Tridib Deka (Asm) 3-0.

Group L: Ishpreet Singh (Mah) bt Rahul S (Mah) 3-2; Lalrina Renthlei (Miz) bt Rishabh Jain (Del) 3-0.

Group M: Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) bt Abhijeet Ranade (Mah) 3-0; B Bhaskar (Kar) bt Anish Parikh (Jhar) 3-1.

Group N: Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Ketan Chawla (MP) 3-1; ML Lakshman (Kar) bt Yash Kinger (Jhar) 3-0.

Group O: Abhimanyu Gandhi (Mah) bt Akshay Kumar (UP) 3-1; Neeraj Kumar (Rlys) bt Sonam Gurang (Meg) 3-0.

Group P: Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Dilip Kumar (Rlys) 3-0; Shahbaaz Khan (Mah) bt Ankit Kariwala (WB) 3-2.

Group Q: Pushpender Singh (Rlys) bt Asutosh Padhy (Odi) 3-0; Rajiv IV (AP) bt Mudit Poddar (WB) 3-2.

Group R: Brijesh Damani (PSPB) bt Taaha Khan (Mah) 3-1; Varun Madan (Del) bt Dhruv Arora (Har) 3-0.

Group S: Divya Sharma (Har) bt Md Ghouse (Tel) 3-0.

Group T: Himanshu Jain (Tel) bt Sparsh Pherwani (Mah) 3-1; Sean Davis (Kar) bt Aayush Kumar (Pun) 3-2.

Group U: Kushal C (Kar) bt Anmol DS (Pun) 3-0; Paras Gupta (UP) bt Khizer Raoof (Tel) 3-2.

Group V: Nishant B (Odi) bt bt V Susheel (AP) 3-1; Faisal Khan (Rlys) bt Piyush Kushwa (MP) 3-1.

Group W: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Shoaib Khan (Rlys) 3-1; Hasan Badami (Mah) bt Adil Sherazi (Kar) 3-1.

Group X: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Avinash (Del) 3-0; Nitesh Madan (Rlys) bt Babil L (Tel) 3-0.

Group Y: Shahbaaz Khan (PSPB) bt Vinay Chawla (Pun) 3-0; Pranit R (TN) bt Rafath Habib (Rlys) 3-2.

Group Z: Dhruv Verma (Pun) bt R Loganathan (TN) 3-0; Younis Kuchey (J&K) bt Sumit S (Asm) 3-1.

Group Z: R Loganathan (TN) bt Younis Kuchey (J&K) 3-1; Dhruv Verma (Pun) bt Sumit Sutradhar (Asm) 3-1.