BHOPAL: Vidya Pillai of Karnataka and S. Shrikrinhna of PSPB scored contrasting victories and emerged champions in the ladies' and men's 6-Red snooker in the Sage-National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2021 on Friday.
Vidya and her compatriot Varsha Sanjeev were engaged in a tense and thrilling contest for supremacy in the ladies' final.
In a match of fluctuating fortunes, Vidya trailed 1-3 but produced a strong late comeback to win the last two frames and clinch a nerve-wracking 4-3 (29-18, 19-31, 03-32, 33-29, 10-26, 26-07, and 42-00) victory.
The men's summit round clash turned out to be a lop-sided contest as Shrikrishna, who was up against Manan Chandra, potted confidently and consistently to take control and quickly raced to a 5-0 lead before closing out the match with a 6-1 demolition of his senior opponent.
The Chennai-based Shrikrishna, after taking the opening frame, uncorked a neat 69-point break in the second and later rolled in a 71-point effort in fourth. He followed that by comfortably winning the fifth to sit pretty with a healthy lead.
Manan managed to deny Shrikrishna from completing a clean sweep by pocketing the sixth frame.
But Shrikrishna managed to narrowly win the next two frames to complete a sensational 49-10, 69 (69)-00, 50-04, 71(71)-00, 48-08, 02-58, 33-24, and 33-28 victory and emerge champion.
Results: Ladies 6-Red snooker – Semi-finals: Vidya Pillai (KAR) beat Anupama Ramachandran (TN) 4-3; Varsha Sanjeev (KAR) beat Chitra Magimairaj (KAR) 4-0.
Final: Vidya Pillai (KAR) beat Varsha Sanjeev (KAR) 4-3 (29-18, 19-31, 03-32, 33-29, 10-26, 26-07, 42-00.
