NEW DELHI: Former World Billiards champion, Sourav Kothari, opened his campaign in the SBA Open 6-Red Snooker championships with a thumping 5-0 win over Sunil Kumar at the Megapool Academy in Dwarka here. Kothari, the 2018 World Billiards title holder, hardly had to break sweat in overcoming Kumar's challenge 43-21 51-09 54-18 32-19 56-11 in a rather one-sided contest. Kothari, also the runner-up at the 2017, 2019 editions of the Worlds, is one of the star attractions at Rs 1.5 lakh prize-money inaugural snooker meet, played in the memory of late Amit Sharma who had died after succumbing to Covid-19 in May this year.
Kothari, an Arjuna awardee, used to practice with Sharma during his visits to the national capital. Kothari's father Manoj - himself the IBSF World Billiards champion in 1990 - had donned the coaching hat for both cueists at different stages of their career. "Sourav became emotional after his win missing Sharma's presence, with whom he shared a strong bond," said Ravi Tandon, secretary, Delhi Billiards and Snooker Association (DBSA).
In other matches of the tournament, Shahbaz Khan defeated Manmeet Bhatia 4-2 in a close encounter. It was an engrossing contest where none was ready to offer an inch. However, Khan brought his green baize experience to the pool table to stave off a tough challenge from Bhatia 23-41 19-43 47-21 51-29 39-26 50-11. Kumar and Bhatia had entered the main round of the tournament after going through the qualification process. Later, Shoaib Khan had an easy sailing against Sanchit Gupta, emerging victorious (5-0) 55-11 45-21 31-09 57-09 43-21.
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