Manudev holds nerve to retain snooker title

The ace cueist finished with an overall frame difference of plus 13, just one ahead of B Bhaskar’s plus 12. Manudev, who had suffered one loss out of his five matches on the penultimate day, needed to win both his matches on the final day. Bhaskar, however, had only Manudev to defeat as the rest of the pack was far too behind.

With five wins in as many matches leading to the final day, Bhaskar barely showed signs of his usual prowess in the crucial tie against Manudev.  Manudev bagged the first two frames 57-36, 70-34 but was pegged back when Bhaskar grabbed the third 16-72. A very patchy display from both the cueists extended the game for a while but Manudev managed to dig deep to win the fourth and fifth frames 74-38, 58-53 for victory.

Results: IH Manudev bt B Bhaskar 4-1 (57-36, 70-34, 16-72, 74-38, 58-53); Jasim Tawin bt Ajay Bhushan 4-1 (58-57, 53-77, 51-26, 64-36, 61-420; Balaji Reddy bt BVS Murthy 4-2 (53-32, 52-68, 102-19, 23-63, 87-0, 62-8); MS Arun bt D Raj Kumar 4-2 (42-55, 26-59, 73-0, 74-36, 73-27, 51-28); B Bhaskar b D Raj Kumar 4-2 (75-22, 79-34, 25-58, 73-50, 46-52, 67-14); Jasim Tawin bt BVS Murthy 4-0 (60-14, 86-32, 67-50, 71-38); Ajay Bhushan bt B Reddy 4-1 (45-88, 66-4, 47-46, 63-45, 66-57); IH Manudev bt MS Arun 4-3 (28-62, 51-66, 52-61, 73-21, 74-57, 84-17, 60-15).

Standings: IH Manudev 1; B Bhaskar 2; MS Arun 3; Jasim Tawin 4. Ladies State-ranking billiards: Varsha bt Indira Gowda 2-0 (51-16, 50-31); Chitra M bt Ayan Zoya 2-0 (50-21, 50-39); Lakshmi Suryanarayana bt Shilpa 2-0 (50-15, 50-20).